ALBERT

Description: Declines in Ogallala aquifer levels used for irrigation has prompted research to identify methods for optimizing water use efficiency (WUE) of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L). In this experiment, conducted at Lubbock, TX, USA in 2014, our objective was to test two canopy temperature based stress indices, each at two different irrigation trigger set points: the Stress Time (ST) method with irrigation triggers set at 5.5 (ST_5.5) and 8.5 h (ST_8.5) and the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) method with irrigation triggers set at 0.3 (CWSI_0.3) and 0.6 (CWSI_0.6). When these irrigation triggers were exceeded on a given day, the crop was deficit irrigated with 5 mm of water via subsurface drip tape. Also included in the experimental design were a well-watered (WW) control irrigated at 110% of potential evapotranspiration and a dry land (DL) treatment that relied on rainfall only. Seasonal crop water use ranged from 353 to 625 mm across these six treatments. As expected, cotton lint yield increased with increasing crop water use but lint yield WUE displayed asignificant (p ≤ 0.05) peak near 3.6 to 3.7 kg ha−1 mm−1 for the ST_5.5 and CWSI_0.3 treatments, respectively. Our results suggest that WUE may be optimized in cotton with less water than that needed for maximum lint yield.

Description: The Saudi Arabia (SA) climate varies greatly, depending on the geography and the season. According to K ppen and Geiger, the climates of SA is “desert climate”. The analysis of the seasonal rainfall detects that spring and winter seasons have the highestrainfall incidence, respectively. Through the summer,small quantities of precipitation are observed, while autumn received more precipitation more than summer season considering the total annual rainfall. In all seasons, the SW area receives rainfall, with a maximum in spring, whereas in the summer season, the NE and NW areas receive very little quantities of precipitation. The Rub Al-Khali (the SE region) is almost totally dry. The maximum amount of annual rainfall does not always happen at the highest elevation. Therefore, the elevation is not the only factor in rainfall distribution.A great inter-annual change in the rainfall over the SA for the period (1978–2009) is observed. In addition, in the same period, a linear decreasing trend is found in the observed rainfall, whilst in the recent past (1994–2009) a statistically significant negative trend is observed. In the Southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (AP) and along the coast of the Red Sea, it is interesting to note that rainfall increased, whilst it decreased over most areas of SA during the 2000–2009 decade, compared to 1980–1989.Statistical and numerical models are used to predict rainfall over Saudi Arabia (SA). The statistical models based on stochastic models of ARIMA and numerical models based on Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies of Hadley Centre (PRECIS). Climate and its qualitative character and quantified range of possible future changes are investigated. The annual total rainfall decreases in most regions of the SA and only increases in the south. The summertime precipitation will be the highest between other seasons over the southern, the southwestern provinces and Asir mountains, while the wintertime rainfall will remain the lowest.The climate in the SA is instructed by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and other circulations such as centers of high and low pressure, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and SOI. Strength and oscillation of subtropical jet stream play a big role in pulling hot, dry air masses of SA.

Description: This paper presents design and testing of a shell-encapsulated solar collector which can be used in north area of China for wall-amounting installation. The designed solar collector is based on the combination of a novel compound curved surface concentrator and an aluminum concentric solar receiver, which is contained in a glass evacuated-tube. As there is no perforative joint between the double-skin glass evacuated-tube and the aluminum concentric solar receiver, the difficulty of vacuum keeping for a glass-metal joint is avoided. The cavity shell provides an additional thermal insulation to reduce heat loss of the designed solar collector. The working principle of the compound curved surface concentrator is described. The ray-tracing results are given to show the effect of deviation angle of the concentrator on its optical efficiency, hence determining its maximum acceptance angle. A prototype of the designed solar collector has been constructed and tested under the sunny winter weather condition. The experimental results indicate that the hot water temperature higher than 80°C with a daily average efficiency of about 45~50% has been achieved at the average ambient temperature below 0°C, so the designed solar collector can produce hot water at a useful temperature in winter.

Description: A novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header with an inserted tube is proposed in this paper which makes water in all-glass evacuated solar collector tube be forced circulated to improve the performance of solar collector. And a dynamic numerical model was presented for the novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header water heater system. Also, a test rig was built for model validation and comparison with traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector. The experiment results show that the efficiency of solar water heater with a novel collector manifold header is higher than traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector by about 5% and the heat transfer model of water heater system is valid. Based on the model, the relationship between the average temperature of water tank and inserted tube diameter (water mass flow) has been studied. The results show that the optimized diameter of inserted tube is 32 mm for the inner glass with the diameter of 47 mm and the water flow mass should be less than 1.6 Kg/s.

Description: The performance of a dual-function solar collector (DFSC) that can work as either water heater or air heater depending on seasonal requirement is investigated via both experimental and numerical approaches in this paper. The numerical results are well consistent with the experimental results. Daily efficiency of the thermosiphon system with DFSC is more than 55% in water heating mode and the instantaneous air heating efficiency of the collector reaches 60%. The effects of inner parameters on the thermal efficiency of the collector are analyzed by numerical simulations of the operation of DFSC in two working modes. It is found that the depths of the two air channels in DFSC have an optimal range suitable for both working modes. The thickness of back insulation should be no less than 0.06 m to prevent heat loss via backboard, and the diameter and number of copper tubes show notable effect on the efficiency of DFSC in water heating mode but slight effect in air heating mode.

Description: Nuclear power plants are highly complex systems and the issues related to their safety are of primary importance. Probabilistic safety assessment is regarded as the most widespread methodology for studying the safety of nuclear power plants. As maintenance is one of the most important factors for affecting the reliability and safety, an enhanced preventive maintenance optimization model based on a three-stage failure process is proposed. Preventive maintenance is still a dominant maintenance policy due to its easy implementation. In order to correspond to the three-color scheme commonly used in practice, the lifetime of system before failure is divided into three stages, namely, normal, minor defective, and severe defective stages. When the minor defective stage is identified, two measures are considered for comparison: one is that halving the inspection interval only when the minor defective stage is identified at the first time; the other one is that if only identifying the minor defective stage, the subsequent inspection interval is halved. Maintenance is implemented immediately once the severe defective stage is identified. Minimizing the expected cost per unit time is our objective function to optimize the inspection interval. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models.

Description: Aquifers within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) provide a critical water supply throughout much of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Increased pumping has resulted in water level declines in this region. Recharge into this aquifer system is generally not well understood. Recent suggestions of probable decades-long droughts in the 21st century add to this problem. We show that geophysical methods can provide useful parameters for improved modeling of aquifers in a primary CRBG aquifer located on the eastern edge of the Columbia Plateau. Groundwater models depend in part on the area, thickness, porosity, storativity, and nature of confinement of this aquifer, most of which are poorly constrained by existing well information and previous stress tests. We have made use of surface gravity measurements, borehole gravity measurements, barometric efficiency estimates, earth tidal response, and earthquake seismology observations to constrain these parameters. We show that the aquifer, despite its persistent drawdown, receives a great deal of recharge annually. Much of the recharge to the aquifer is due to leakage from overlying flows, ultimately tied to precipitation, an important result for future aquifer management in times of sustained drought.

Description: Low flows of the Ilmenau River (1434 km2) in northwest Germany have decreased by about 25% over the last 50 years. In the same period, moderate climate changes have taken place and annual groundwater abstractions for sprinkler irrigation have increased by up to 50 hm3 (million m3), with a strong variation due to the respective prevailing weather conditions. Time-series analyses with multiple regression analysis allow detecting and quantifying different influences on low flows. It is also shown that farmers allocate irrigation water volumes carefully according to seasonal precipitation and temperatures. Decline of groundwater levels in summer and the low flow situation are aggravated by the cumulative effect of higher irrigation in drier years. Groundwater recharge and recovery of the water table have been observed subsequently during the winter season.

Description: Cities’ energy usage accounts for two thirds of global primary energy consumption. Energy efficiency in urban areas is, therefore, one of the most important topics to consider when dealing with urban sustainability. This paper evaluates the goals for increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in the areas of transportation, buildings and consumers’ awareness, as stated in the Climate action plan, for the municipality of Eskilstuna, Sweden. The efforts of the municipality to successfully reach their energy efficiency goals, are described in this paper including future perspectives. The results show that although the municipality counts with the advantage of owning and working together with the local housing company and energy provider, in order to reach the established goals, additional strategies need to be considered. For an increased use of renewable energy sources, analysis of rooftops suitable for photovoltaic (PV) installation should be carried out as well as the integration of goals for self-consumption. In the transport field, the city needs to prepare for large-scale electric vehicle (EV) market penetration and to consider different bike or car sharing options. Finally, more specific awareness campaigns are needed to engage the citizens in reducing their energy consumption and living a more sustainable life.

Description: An integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety analysis (IDPSA) was carried out to assess the performances of the firefighting means to be applied in a nuclear power plant. The tools used in the analysis are the code FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) for fire simulation and the tool MCDET (Monte Carlo Dynamic Event Tree) for handling epistemic and aleatory uncertainties. The combination of both tools allowed for an improved modelling of a fire interacting with firefighting means while epistemic uncertainties because lack of knowledge and aleatory uncertainties due to the stochastic aspects of the performances of the firefighting means are simultaneously taken into account. The MCDET-FDS simulations provided a huge spectrum of fire sequences each associated with a conditional occurrence probability at each point in time. These results were used to derive probabilities of damage states based on failure criteria considering high temperatures of safety related targets and critical exposure times. The influence of epistemic uncertainties on the resulting probabilities was quantified. The paper describes the steps of the IDPSA and presents a selection of results. Focus is laid on the consideration of epistemic and aleatory uncertainties. Insights and lessons learned from the analysis are discussed.

Description: In this paper we evaluate the impact of a power uprate on a pressurized water reactor (PWR) for a tsunami-induced flooding test case. This analysis is performed using the RISMC toolkit: the RELAP-7 and RAVEN codes. RELAP-7 is the new generation of system analysis codes that is responsible for simulating the thermal-hydraulic dynamics of PWR and boiling water reactor systems. RAVEN has two capabilities: to act as a controller of the RELAP-7 simulation (e.g., component/system activation) and to perform statistical analyses. In our case, the simulation of the flooding is performed by using an advanced smooth particle hydrodynamics code called NEUTRINO. The obtained results allow the user to investigate and quantify the impact of timing and sequencing of events on system safety. In addition, the impact of power uprate is determined in terms of both core damage probability and safety margins.

Description: In case of some nuclear power plants constructed at the soft soil sites, liquefaction should be analysed as beyond design basis hazard. The aim of the analysis is to define the postevent condition of the plant, definition of plant vulnerabilities, and identification of the necessary measures for accident management. In the paper, the methodology of the analysis of liquefaction effects for nuclear power plants is outlined. The procedure includes identification of the scope of the safety analysis and the acceptable limit cases for plant structures having different role from accident management point of view. Considerations are made for identification of dominating effects of liquefaction. The possibility of the decoupling of the analysis of liquefaction effects from the analysis of vibratory ground motion is discussed. It is shown in the paper that the practicable empirical methods for definition of liquefaction susceptibility provide rather controversial results. Selection of method for assessment of soil behaviour that affects the integrity of structures requires specific considerations. The case of nuclear power plant at Paks, Hungary, is used as an example for demonstration of practical importance of the presented results and considerations.

Description: The loss of off-site power (LOOP) event occurs when all electrical power to the nuclear power plant from the power grid is lost. Complete failure of both off-site and on-site alternating current (AC) power sources is referred to as a station blackout (SBO). Combined LOOP and SBO events are analyzed in this paper. The analysis is done for different time delays between the LOOP and SBO events. Deterministic safety analysis is utilized for the assessment of the plant parameters for different time delays of the SBO event. Obtained plant parameters are used for the assessment of the probabilities of the functional events in the SBO event tree. The results show that the time delay of the SBO after the LOOP leads to a decrease of the core damage frequency (CDF) from the SBO event tree. The reduction of the CDF depends on the time delay of the SBO after the LOOP event. The results show the importance of the safety systems to operate after the plant shutdown when the decay heat is large. Small changes of the basic events importance measures are identified with the introduction of the delay of the SBO event.

Description: Drought is a serious natural hazard with far-reaching impacts including soil damages, economic losses, and threatening the livelihood and health of local residents. The goal of the present work was to monitor the vegetation health across Lebanon in 2014 using remote sensing techniques. Landsat images datasets, with a spatial resolution of 30 m and from different platforms, were used to identify the VCI (Vegetation Condition Index) and TCI (Temperature Condition Index). The VCI was based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) datasets. The TCI used land surface temperature (LST) datasets. As a result, the VHI (Vegetation Health Index) was produced and classified into five categories: extreme, severe, moderate, mild, and no drought. The results show practically no extreme drought (~0.27 km2) in the vegetated area in Lebanon during 2014. Moderate to severe drought mainly occurred in the north of Lebanon (i.e., the Amioun region and the plain of Akkar). The Tyr region and the Bekaa valley experienced a low level of drought (mild drought). This approach allows decision makers to monitor, investigate and resolve drought conditions more effectively.

Description: The irrigation water available for agriculture will be scarce in the future due to increased competition for water with other sectors, and the issue may become more serious due to climate change. In Chile, the table grape is only cultivated under irrigation. A five-year research program (2007–2012) was carried out in the Aconcagua Valley, the central area of grapes in Chile, to evaluate the response of table grape vines (Vitis vinifera L., cv Thompson Seedless) to different volumes of irrigation water. Four irrigation treatments were applied: 60, 88, 120 and 157% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) during the first four years, and 40, 54, 92 and 108% of ETc in the last year. Irrigation over 90%–100% of ETc did not increase fruit yield, whereas the application of water below 90% ETc decreased exportable yield, berry size and pruning weight. For example, 60% ETc applied water reduced exportable yield by 20%, and only 40% of the berries were in the extra and large category size, while pruning weight was 30% lower in comparison to the treatment receiving more water.

Description: Leaf length is a key factor in the economic value of different grass species and cultivars in forage production. It is also important for the survival of individual plants within a sward. The objective of this paper is to discuss the basis of within-species variation in leaf length. Selection for leaf length has been highly efficient, with moderate to high narrow sense heritability. Nevertheless, the genetic regulation of leaf length is complex because it involves many genes with small individual effects. This could explain the low stability of QTL found in different studies. Leaf length has a strong response to environmental conditions. However, when significant genotype × environment interactions have been identified, their effects have been smaller than the main effects. Recent modelling-based research suggests that many of the reported environmental effects on leaf length and genotype × environment interactions could be biased. Indeed, it has been shown that leaf length is an emergent property strongly affected by the architectural state of the plant during significant periods prior to leaf emergence. This approach could lead to improved understanding of the factors affecting leaf length, as well as better estimates of the main genetic effects.

Description: Soil water potential (Ψ) controls the dynamics of water in soils and can therefore affect greenhouse gas fluxes. We examined the relationship between soil moisture content (θ) at five different levels of water potential (Ψ = 0, −0.05, −0.1, −0.33 and −15 bar) and greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, CO2; nitrous oxide, N2O and methane, CH4) fluxes. The study was conducted in 2011 in a silt loam soil at Freeman farm of Lincoln University. Soil samples were collected at two depths: 0–10 and 10–20 cm and their bulk densities were measured. Samples were later saturated then brought into a pressure plate for measurements of Ψ and θ. Soil air samples for greenhouse gas flux analyses were collected using static and vented chambers, 30 cm in height and 20 cm in diameter. Determination of CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations from soil air samples were done using a Shimadzu Gas Chromatograph (GC-14). Results showed that there were significant correlations between greenhouse gas fluxes and θ held at various Ψ in the 0–10 cm depth of soil group. For instance, θ at Ψ = 0 positively correlated with measured CO2 (p = 0.0043, r = 0.49), N2O (p = 0.0020, r = 0.64) and negatively correlated with CH4 (p = 0.0125, r = −0.44) fluxes. Regression analysis showed that 24%, 41% and 19% of changes in CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes, respectively, were due to θ at Ψ = 0 (p 〈 0.05). This study stresses the need to monitor soil water potential when monitoring greenhouse gas fluxes.

Description: A device (prototype) with a working volume of 200 L was used to deplete olive mill wastewater (OMW) of polyphenols. The OMW transformed into feedstock by means of the device was then used for feeding a lab-scale photobioreactor, just for testing the production of bioH2. The main novelty of this prototype consists in the combination of several adsorbent matrices and the exploitation of their synergic action. In this investigation, three matrices have been used: active carbon, Azolla and zeolite. The device was operated at an olive oil company located in the heart of the Chianti zone (Province of Florence, Italy). The efficiency of polyphenol removal obtained using the device was ≥96%. The multi-matrix effluent (MMeff) generated was then used to obtain three different culture broths containing 25%, 50% and 100% of MMeff, respectively. The diluted (with water) culture broths were suitable for hydrogen generation, with the highest hydrogen production rate (12.7 mL H2/Lculture/h) being obtained using 50% MMeff. The hydrogen yields were: 334 mL H2/L of MMeff, when feeding the photofermenter with pure effluent (100%); 1308 mL H2/L of MMeff, with the half-diluted effluent (50%, v/v); and 432 mL H2/L of MMeff, with the highest-diluted effluent (25%, v/v).

Description: The microbiological and chemical drinking water quality of 20 vulnerable Finnish small groundwater supplies was studied in relation to environmental risk factors associated with potential sources of contamination. The microbiological parameters analyzed included the following enteric pathogens: Giardia and Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter species, noroviruses, as well as indicator microbes (Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, coliform bacteria, Clostridium perfringens, Aeromonas spp. and heterotrophic bacteria). Chemical analyses included the determination of pH, conductivity, TOC, color, turbidity, and phosphorus, nitrate and nitrite nitrogen, iron, and manganese concentrations. Giardia intestinalis was detected from four of the water supplies, all of which had wastewater treatment activities in the neighborhood. Mesophilic Aeromonas salmonicida, coliform bacteria and E. coli were also detected. None of the samples were positive for both coliforms and Giardia. Low pH and high iron and manganese concentrations in some samples compromised the water quality. Giardia intestinalis was isolated for the first time in Finland in groundwater wells of public water works. In Europe, small water supplies are of great importance since they serve a significant sector of the population. In our study, the presence of fecal indicator bacteria, Aeromonas and Giardia revealed surface water access to the wells and health risks associated with small water supplies.

Description: Experimental plots were established on severely eroded land surfaces in Iceland in 1999 to study the rates and limits of soil carbon sequestration during restoration and succession. The carbon content in the upper 10 cm of soils increased substantially during the initial eight years in all plots for which the treatments included both fertilizer and seeding with grasses, concomitant with the increase in vegetative cover. In the following five years, however, the soil carbon accumulation rates declined to negligible for most treatments and the carbon content in soils mainly remained relatively constant. We suggest that burial of vegetated surfaces by aeolian drift and nutrient limitation inhibited productivity and carbon sequestration in most plots. Only plots seeded with lupine demonstrated continued long-term soil carbon accumulation and soil CO2 flux rates significantly higher than background levels. This demonstrates that lupine was the sole treatment that resulted in vegetation capable of sustained growth independent of nutrient availability and resistant to disruption by aeolian processes.

Description: For 20 years, the number of resource policy approaches with direct and indirect relations to raw materials, resource and material efficiency has grown enormously at national and international level. This discussion paper makes an inventory of different political and regulatory approaches that contain a direct or indirect reference to resources such as construction materials, industrial minerals, or metals. They are examined and evaluated regarding foci and resource priorities as well as further categories such as target lines, governance levels, indicators used, integration into wider target systems, specification, and implementation. The aim is to provide an overview of the spectrum of resource objectives in international, European, and national strategies, programs, and initiatives. The closer analysis of raw material targets embedded in the policy programs and legal approaches reveals that most goals lack a time frame and a concrete vision, thus remain at a strategic level. To complement the overview, the state of research in the field of modeling and simulation is briefly discussed. Concluding remarks concerning their relation to the objectives identified and the task of target setting complete the discussion.

Description: Concentrator solar cells that operate at high solar concentration level must be cooled. In this paper, direct liquid immersion cooling of triple-junction solar cells (InGaP/InGaAs/Ge) is proposed as a heat dissipation solution for dense-array high concentrating photovoltaic (HCPV) systems. The advantages of triple-junction CPV cells immersed in a circulating dielectric liquid and dish HCPV technology are integrated into a CPV system to improve the system electrical conversion efficiency. An analytical model for the direct liquid-immersed solar receiver with triple-junction CPV cells is presented. The main outputs of the model are the components temperatures of the receiver and the system electrical efficiency. The influence of concentration factor, mass flow rate, and inlet liquid temperature on the operating temperature of the triple-junction CPV cells and the system electrical conversion efficiency are discussed. It is shown that the system electrical conversion efficiency is very high for a wide range of operating conditions. The three operating parameters have a major effect on the operating temperature of the triple-junction CPV cells and, by extension, system output power. The flow rate selection should match concentration factor to keep the triple-junction CPV cells temperature lower and increase the electrical conversion efficiency of the dense-array HCPV system.

Description: The identification of an appropriate justification for Agri-Environment-Climate (AEC) payments is a crucial issue in the new Rural Development Programme (RDP). Given the environmental importance of grasslands in Trentino (Italy), the Management Authority in charge of the RDP decided to integrate an approach based on Ecosystem Services (ES) into the calculation of AEC payments. The paper presents the methodology used for this approach as well as the preliminary results. The first step entails building a probabilistic model for the ES, named Sustainable Fodder Production. Model outputs are then integrated with the accounting results based on the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) database (2009–2012) with the aim of calculating the additional costs and income waived due to the environmental commitments deriving from the sustainable management of permanent grassland in livestock farming. Sustainability measures imply more extensive management practices that maintain meadows in a healthy state.

Description: Data on fresh fruit and vegetable shrink in supermarkets is important to help understand where and how much shrink could potentially be reduced by supermarkets to increase their profitability. This study provides: (1) shrink estimates for 24 fresh fruits and 31 fresh vegetables in U.S. supermarkets in 2011 and 2012; and (2) retail-level food loss. For each covered commodity, supplier shipment data was aggregated from a sample of 2900 stores from one national and four regional supermarket retailers in the United States, and this sum was then compared with aggregated point-of-sale data from the same stores to estimate the amount of shrink by weight and shrink rates. The 2011–2012 average annual shrink rates for individual fresh vegetables varied from 2.2 percent for sweet corn to 62.9 percent for turnip greens and for individual fresh fruit ranged from 4.1 percent for bananas to 43.1 percent for papayas. When these shrink estimates were used in the Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data series, annual food loss for these commodities totaled 5.9 billion pounds of fresh fruit and 6.1 billion pounds of fresh vegetables. This study extends the literature by providing important information on where and how much shrink could potentially be reduced. Precise comparisons across studies are difficult. This information, combined with information on available and cost-effective technologies and practices, may help supermarkets target food loss reduction efforts though food loss will never be zero.

Description: Tulips were grown under field conditions from mid-November through early-June. Plants were harvested and dissected into eight organs on twenty-one dates. These parts were dried, weighed, and analyzed for N, P, K, Ca, and Mg. A transition (as determined by curve join points) from a linear to a steep negative cubic response occurred prior to shoot emergence for N (82 days after planting (DAP)), at shoot emergence for K (93 DAP) and Ca (94 DAP), and after shoot emergence for Mg (102 DAP) and dry matter (118 DAP). A transition from a linear to a steeper linear response occurred at shoot emergence for P (93 DAP). Growth, organ development, and nutrient accumulation occurred continuously from planting to maturity (188 DAP), except for K which did not accumulate during the initial linear phase. Since the increase in accumulation of all five nutrients preceded the dry matter accumulation, these nutrients could be used as predictors in growth models. Practical implications from this study include the importance of maintaining soil Ca levels through liming and applying the N, P, and Mg as split applications with smaller rates at planting and larger rates at emergence. The entire K application may be applied at emergence.

Description: Solar aided coal-fired power generation system (SACFPGS) combines solar energy and traditional coal-fired units in a particular way. This study mainly improves the solar thermal storage system. Genetic algorithm is used to optimize the SACFPGS. The best integration approach of the system, the collector area, and the corresponding thermal storage capacity to replace each high-pressure extraction are obtained when the amount of coal saving in unit solar investment per hour is at its largest. System performance before and after the improvement is compared. Results show that the improvement of the thermal storage system effectively increases the economic benefit of the integrated system.

Description: A spectral selectivity surface for both solar heating and radiative cooling was proposed. It has a high spectral absorptivity (emissivity) in the solar radiation band and atmospheric window band (i.e., 0.2~3 μm and 8~13 μm), as well as a low absorptivity (emissivity) in other bands aside from the solar radiation and atmospheric window wavelengths (i.e., 3~8 μm or above 13 μm). A type of composite surface sample was trial-manufactured combining titanium-based solar selective absorbing coating with polyethylene terephthalate (TPET). Sample tests showed that the TPET composite surface has clear spectral selectivity in the spectra of solar heating and radiation cooling wavelengths. The equilibrium temperatures of the TPET surface under different sky conditions or different inclination angles of surface were tested at both day and night. Numerical analysis and comparisons among the TPET composite surface and three other typical surfaces were also performed. These comparisons indicated that the TPET composite surface had a relative heat efficiency of 76.8% of that of the conventional solar heating surface and a relative temperature difference of 75.0% of that of the conventional radiative cooling surface, with little difference in cooling power.

Description: In this paper, taking Lushan West Sea highway green rest area in Jiangxi Province of China as the case study, the suitable types, applicability, advantages, and effective methods of solar lighting technologies for highway rest area were determined based on the analysis of characteristics of highway green rest area. It was proved that solar lighting technologies including the natural light guidance system, solar LED lighting, and maximizing natural light penetration were quite suitable for highway rest area in terms of lighting effects and energy and economic efficiency. The illuminance comparison of light guidance system with electrical lighting was made based on the on-site experiment. Also, the feasibility of natural light guidance system was well verified in terms of the lighting demand of the visitor centre in the rest area by the illuminance simulation analysis. The evaluation of the energy saving, economic benefits, and environmental effects of solar lighting technologies for highway rest area was, respectively, made in detail. It was proved that the application of solar technology for green lighting of highway rest facilities not only could have considerable energy saving capacity and achieve high economic benefits, but also make great contributions to the reduction of environment pollution.

Description: Heat flow of the sedimentary succession of the Eastern Canada Sedimentary Basins varies from 40 mW/m2 close to the exposed shield in the north to high 60–70 mW/m2 in the southwest–northeast St. Lawrence corridor. As high fluid flow rates are required for a successful geothermal application, the most important targets are deep existing permeable aquifers rather than hard rock, which would need to be fracked. Unfortunately, the ten most populated Québec urban centers are in the areas where the Grenville (Canadian Shield) is exposed or at shallow depths with sedimentary cover where temperatures are 30 °C or less. The city of Drummondville will be the exception, as the basement deepens sharply southwest, and higher temperatures reaching >120 °C are expected in the deep Cambrian sedimentary aquifers near a 4–5-km depth. Deep under the area where such sediments could be occurring under Appalachian nappes, temperatures significantly higher than 140 °C are predicted. In parts of the deep basin, temperatures as high as 80 °C–120 °C exist at depths of 3–4 km, mainly southeast of the major geological boundary: the Logan line. There is a large amount of heat resource at such depths to be considered in this area for district heating.

Description: This research looks at coupling desalination with renewable energy sources to create a high-value product (treated water) from two low value resources (brackish groundwater and intermittent solar energy). Desalination of brackish groundwater is already being considered as a potential new water supply in Texas. This research uses Texas as a testbed for spatially-resolved analysis techniques while considering depth to brackish groundwater, water quality, and solar radiation across Texas to determine the locations with the best potential for integrating solar energy with brackish groundwater desalination. The framework presented herein can be useful for policymakers, regional planners, and project developers as they consider where to site desalination facilities coupled with solar photovoltaics. Results suggest that the northwestern region of Texas—with abundant sunshine and groundwater at relatively shallow depths and low salinity in areas with freshwater scarcity—has the highest potential for solar powered desalination. The range in capacity for solar photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis desalination was found to be 1.56 × 10—6 to 2.93 × 10—5 cubic meters of water per second per square meter of solar panel (m3/s/m2).

Description: Ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems have been proven to have higher efficiency compared to conventional air source heat pump systems for space heating and cooling applications. While vertical ground heat exchangers (GHE) are favorable in GSHP installation, this type of configuration requires higher capital costs as opposed to horizontal configuration. Numerical simulation has been used to accurately predict the thermal performance of GHE. In this paper, numerical analysis of thermal performance for slinky horizontal GHE loops in different orientations and operation modes is discussed. It was found that the loop orientation is not so important due to the little effect it has on thermal performance. While the mean heat exchange rate of copper loop increases 48% compared to HDPE loop, the analysis supports the common claim that heat exchange rate is predominantly limited by the thermal conductivity of the ground. With the same amount of circulation work, the mean heat exchange rate increases by 83%–162% when operated in parallel loops operations. The performance in these operations can be further optimized to 10%–14% increase when spacing between adjacent loops was provided. The spacing helps to minimize interference of heat flow that would penalize the overall thermal performance.

Description: Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific over the last decade have established some of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the world. The promotion of renewable energy has been motivated by a desire to lessen dependence on fossil fuels, given the adverse economic impacts of high oil prices on these countries. Efforts to attract development assistance and to strengthen the position of Pacific SIDS in climate change negotiations have likely also played a role. This paper explores the development of renewable energy resources in the Pacific through a public policy lens. The ambitious renewable energy targets established by Pacific SIDS are argued to be appropriate in some cases, but in other cases are criticised on economic grounds. A potential trade-off is identified between the risk mitigation benefits and poverty alleviation benefits of different renewable technology investments, with questions raised about whether support for the former rather than the latter by development partners is appropriate. A number of institutional and financial challenges to the development of renewable energy resources in Pacific SIDS are also discussed.

Description: Integrated Deterministic-Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA) combines deterministic model of a nuclear power plant with a method for exploration of the uncertainty space. Huge amount of data is generated in the process of such exploration. It is very difficult to “manually” process and extract from such data information that can be used by a decision maker for risk-informed characterization, understanding, and eventually decision making on improvement of the system safety and performance. Such understanding requires an approach for interpretation, grouping of similar scenario evolutions, and classification of the principal characteristics of the events that contribute to the risk. In this work, we develop an approach for classification and characterization of failure domains. The method is based on scenario grouping, clustering, and application of decision trees for characterization of the influence of timing and order of events. We demonstrate how the proposed approach is used to classify scenarios that are amenable to treatment with Boolean logic in classical Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) from those where timing and order of events determine process evolution and eventually violation of safety criteria. The efficiency of the approach has been verified with application to the SARNET benchmark exercise on the effectiveness of hydrogen management in the containment.

Description: The analytical/deterministic modelling and simulation/probabilistic methods are used separately as a rule in order to analyse the physical processes and random or uncertain events. However, in the currently used probabilistic safety assessment this is an issue. The lack of treatment of dynamic interactions between the physical processes on one hand and random events on the other hand causes the limited assessment. In general, there are a lot of mathematical modelling theories, which can be used separately or integrated in order to extend possibilities of modelling and analysis. The Theory of Probabilistic Dynamics (TPD) and its augmented version based on the concept of stimulus and delay are introduced for the dynamic reliability modelling and the simulation of accidents in hybrid (continuous-discrete) systems considering uncertain events. An approach of non-Markovian simulation and uncertainty analysis is discussed in order to adapt the Stimulus-Driven TPD for practical applications. The developed approach and related methods are used as a basis for a test case simulation in view of various methods applications for severe accident scenario simulation and uncertainty analysis. For this and for wider analysis of accident sequences the initial test case specification is then extended and discussed. Finally, it is concluded that enhancing the modelling of stimulated dynamics with uncertainty and sensitivity analysis allows the detailed simulation of complex system characteristics and representation of their uncertainty. The developed approach of accident modelling and analysis can be efficiently used to estimate the reliability of hybrid systems and at the same time to analyze and possibly decrease the uncertainty of this estimate.

Description: The State of Wisconsin is located in an unusually water-rich portion of the world in the western part of the Great Lakes region of North America. This article presents an overview of the major groundwater quantity and quality concerns for this region in a geologic context. The water quantity concerns are most prominent in the central sand plain region and portions of a Paleozoic confined sandstone aquifer in eastern Wisconsin. Water quality concerns are more varied, with significant impacts from both naturally occurring inorganic contaminants and anthropogenic sources. Naturally occurring contaminants include radium, arsenic and associated heavy metals, fluoride, strontium, and others. Anthropogenic contaminants include nitrate, bacteria, viruses, as well as endocrine disrupting compounds. Groundwater quality in the region is highly dependent upon local geology and land use, but water bearing geologic units of all ages, Precambrian through Quaternary, are impacted by at least one kind of contaminant.

Description: Urbanized areas of the southwestern/western United States are among the fastest growing in the nation and face multiple water resource challenges. Low impact development (LID)/green infrastructure (GI) practices are increasingly popular technologies for managing stormwater; however, LID is often not as common in the southwest/west due to the lack of regulatory and/or economic drivers. There is also a lack of performance evaluation of these practices, particularly at the field scale. This study focused on investigating the hydrologic and pollutant removal performance of field-scale LID/GI systems in arid/semi-arid climates. Nine typical practices were reviewed: rainwater harvest system, detention pond, retention pond, bioretention, media filter, porous pavement, vegetated swale/buffer/strip, green roof, and infiltration trench, as well as integrated LIDs. We evaluate these practices by a cost-effectiveness analysis and also recommend best practices for the arid/semi-arid area. The analysis provides data support and insights for future implementation of LID/GI in the southwest/west.

Description: We demonstrate an innovative CIGS-based solar cells model with a graded doping concentration absorber profile, capable of achieving high efficiency values. In detail, we start with an in-depth discussion concerning the parametrical study of conventional CIGS solar cells structures. We have used the wxAMPS software in order to numerically simulate cell electrical behaviour. By means of simulations, we have studied the variation of relevant physical and chemical parameters—characteristic of such devices—with changing energy gap and doping density of the absorber layer. Our results show that, in uniform CIGS cell, the efficiency, the open circuit voltage, and short circuit current heavily depend on CIGS band gap. Our numerical analysis highlights that the band gap value of 1.40 eV is optimal, but both the presence of Molybdenum back contact and the high carrier recombination near the junction noticeably reduce the crucial electrical parameters. For the above-mentioned reasons, we have demonstrated that the efficiency obtained by conventional CIGS cells is lower if compared to the values reached by our proposed graded carrier concentration profile structures (up to 21%).

Description: Microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells are processed on glass superstrates having both micro- and nanoscale surface textures. The microscale texture is realised at the glass surface, using the aluminium-induced texturing (AIT) method, which is an industrially feasible process enabling a wide range of surface feature sizes (i.e., 700 nm–3 μm) of the textured glass. The nanoscale texture is made by conventional acid etching of the sputter-deposited transparent conductive oxide (TCO). The influence of the resulting “double texture” on the optical scattering is investigated by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) (studying the surface topology), haze measurements (studying scattering into air), and short-circuit current enhancement measurements (studying scattering into silicon). A predicted enhanced optical scattering efficiency is experimentally proven by a short-circuit current enhancement of up to 1.6 mA/cm2 (7.7% relative increase) compared to solar cells fabricated on a standard superstrate, that is, planar glass covered with nanotextured TCO. Enhancing the autocorrelation length (or feature size) of the AIT superstrates might have the large potential to improve the μc-Si:H thin-film solar cell efficiency, by reducing the shunting probability of the device while maintaining a high optical scattering performance.

Description: We study the electrical and the optical behavior of HIT solar cell by means of measurements and optoelectrical simulations by TCAD simulations. We compare the HIT solar cell with a conventional crystalline silicon solar cell to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the HIT technology. Results highlight different mechanisms of electrical and optical efficiency losses caused by the presence of the amorphous silicon layer. The higher resistivity of the a-Si layers implies a smaller distance between the metal lines that causes a higher shadowing. The worst optical coupling between the amorphous silicon and the antireflective coating implies a slight increase of reflectivity around the 600 nm wavelength.

Description: The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)/hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (c-Si:H) double p-type window layer has been developed and applied for improving microcrystalline silicon-germanium p-i-n single-junction thin-film solar cells deposited on textured SnO2:F-coated glass substrates. The substrates of SnO2:F, SnO2:F/c-Si:H(p), and SnO2:F/a-Si:H(p) were exposed to H2 plasma to investigate the property change. Our results showed that capping a thin layer of a-Si:H(p) on SnO2:F can minimize the Sn reduction during the deposition process which had H2-containing plasma. Optical measurement has also revealed that a-Si:H(p) capped SnO2:F glass had a higher optical transmittance. When the 20 nm c-Si:H(p) layer was replaced by a 3 nm a-Si:H(p)/17 nm c-Si:H(p) double window layer in the cell, the conversion efficiency () and the short-circuit current density () were increased by 16.6% and 16.4%, respectively. Compared to the standard cell with the 20 nm c-Si:H(p) window layer, an improved conversion efficiency of 6.19% can be obtained for the cell having a-Si:H(p)/c-Si:H(p) window layer, with  = 490 mV,  = 19.50 mA/cm2, and FF = 64.83%.

Description: The spatial footprint of unconventional (hydraulic fracturing) and conventional oil and gas development in the Marcellus Shale region of the State of Pennsylvania was digitized from high-resolution, ortho-rectified, digital aerial photography, from 2004 to 2010. We used these data to measure the spatial extent of oil and gas development and to assess the exposure of the extant natural resources across the landscape of the watersheds in the study area. We found that either form of development: (1) occurred in ~50% of the 930 watersheds that defined the study area; (2) was closer to streams than the recommended safe distance in ~50% of the watersheds; (3) was in some places closer to impaired streams and state-defined wildland trout streams than the recommended safe distance; (4) was within 10 upstream kilometers of surface drinking water intakes in ~45% of the watersheds that had surface drinking water intakes; (5) occurred in ~10% of state-defined exceptional value watersheds; (6) occurred in ~30% of the watersheds with resident populations defined as disproportionately exposed to pollutants; (7) tended to occur at interior forest locations; and (8) had >100 residents within 3 km for ~30% of the unconventional oil and gas development sites. Further, we found that exposure to the potential effects of landscape disturbance attributable to conventional oil and gas development was more prevalent than its unconventional counterpart.

Description: Land abandonment and the subsequent re-forestation are important drivers behind the loss of ecosystem services in mountain regions. Agent-based models can help to identify global change impacts on farmland abandonment and can test policy and management options to counteract this development. Realigning the representation of human decision making with time scales of ecological processes such as reforestation presents a major challenge in this context. Models either focus on the agent-specific behavior anchored in the current generation of farmers at the expense of representing longer scale environmental processes or they emphasize the simulation of long-term economic and forest developments where representation of human behavior is simplified in time and space. In this context, we compare the representation of individual and aggregated decision-making in the same model structure and by doing so address some implications of choosing short or long term time horizons in land-use modeling. Based on survey data, we integrate dynamic agents into a comparative static economic sector supply model in a Swiss mountain region. The results from an extensive sensitivity analysis show that this agent-based land-use change model can reproduce observed data correctly and that both model versions are sensitive to the same model parameters. In particular, in both models the specification of opportunity costs determines the extent of production activities and land-use changes by restricting the output space. Our results point out that the agent-based model can capture short and medium term developments in land abandonment better than the aggregated version without losing its sensitivity to important socio-economic drivers. For comparative static approaches, extensive sensitivity analysis with respect to opportunity costs, i.e., the measure of benefits forgone due to alternative uses of labor is essential for the assessment of the impact of climate change on land abandonment and re-forestation in mountain regions.

Description: The structural characterization of Prosopis africana of Benin was studied on the basis of forest inventory conducted in three different vegetation types (savannah, fallow, and field) and three climate zones. The data collected in 139 plots of 1000 m2 each related to the diameter at breast (1.3 m above ground), total height, identification, and measurement of DBH related P. africana species height. Tree-ring parameters such as Blackman and Green indices, basal area, average diameter, height of Lorey, and density were calculated and interpreted. Dendrometric settings of vegetation type and climate zone (Guinea, Sudan-Guinea, and Sudan) were compared through analysis of variance (ANOVA). There is a significant difference in dendrometric settings according to the type of vegetation and climate zone. Basal area, density, and average diameter are, respectively, 4.47 m2/ha, 34.95 stems/ha, and 37.02 cm in the fields; 3.01 m2/ha, 34.74 stems/ha, and 33.66 cm in fallows; 3.31 m2/ha, 52.39 stems/ha, and 29.61 cm in the savannahs. The diameter distribution and height observed at the theoretical Weibull distribution show that the diameter and height of the populations of the species are present in all positively skewed distributions or asymmetric left, a characteristic of single-species stands with predominance of young individuals or small diameters or heights.

Description: Atomic layer deposition was used to coat CdS photoanodes with 7 nm thick TiO2 films to protect them from photocorrosion during photoelectrochemical water splitting. Photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that the TiO2 coating does not provide full protection against photocorrosion. The degradation of the film initiates from small pinholes and shows oscillatory behavior that can be explained by an Avrami-type model for photocorrosion that is halfway between 2D and 3D etching. XPS analysis of corroded films indicates that a thin layer of CdS remains present on the surface of the corroded photoanode that is more resilient towards photocorrosion.

Description: A new trough solar concentrator which is composed of multiple reflection surfaces is developed in this paper. The concentrator was analyzed firstly by using optical software. The variation curves of the collecting efficiency affected by tracking error and the deviation angle were given out. It is found that the deviation tolerance for the collector tracking system is about 8 degrees when the receiver is a 90 mm flat. The trough solar concentrators were tested under real weather conditions. The experiment results indicate that, the new solar concentrator was validated to have relative good collecting efficiency, which can be more than 45 percent when it operated in more 145°C. It also has the characteristics of rdust, wind, and snow resistance and low tracking precision requirements.

Description: Several studies have found that the decrease of photovoltaic (PV) cell temperature would increase the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. Water type PV/thermal (PV/T) system was a good choice but it could become freezing in cold areas of Northern China. This paper proposed a simple combination of common-used PV panel and heat pipe, called PV-heat pipe (PV-HP) solar collector, for both electrical and thermal energy generation. A simplified one-dimensional steady state model was developed to study the electrical and thermal performance of the PV-HP solar collector under different solar radiations, water flow rates, and water temperatures at the inlet of manifold. A testing rig was conducted to verify the model and the testing data matched very well with the simulation values. The results indicated that the thermal efficiency could be minus in the afternoon. The thermal and electrical efficiencies decreased linearly as the inlet water temperature and water flow rate increased. The thermal efficiency increased while the electrical efficiency decreased linearly as the solar radiation increased.

Description: In integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety analysis (IDPSA), safe scenarios and prime implicants (PIs) are generated by simulation. In this paper, we propose a novel postprocessing method, which resorts to a risk-based clustering method for identifying Near Misses among the safe scenarios. This is important because the possibility of recovering these combinations of failures within a tolerable grace time allows avoiding deviations to accident and, thus, reducing the downtime (and the risk) of the system. The postprocessing risk-significant features for the clustering are extracted from the following: (i) the probability of a scenario to develop into an accidental scenario, (ii) the severity of the consequences that the developing scenario would cause to the system, and (iii) the combination of (i) and (ii) into the overall risk of the developing scenario. The optimal selection of the extracted features is done by a wrapper approach, whereby a modified binary differential evolution (MBDE) embeds a -means clustering algorithm. The characteristics of the Near Misses scenarios are identified solving a multiobjective optimization problem, using the Hamming distance as a measure of similarity. The feasibility of the analysis is shown with respect to fault scenarios in a dynamic steam generator (SG) of a nuclear power plant (NPP).

Description: System codes for simulation of safety performance of nuclear plants may contain parameters whose values are not known very accurately. New information from tests or operating experience is incorporated into safety codes by a process known as calibration, which reduces uncertainty in the output of the code and thereby improves its support for decision-making. The work reported here implements several improvements on classic calibration techniques afforded by modern analysis techniques. The key innovation has come from development of code surrogate model (or code emulator) construction and prediction algorithms. Use of a fast emulator makes the calibration processes used here with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling feasible. This work uses Gaussian Process (GP) based emulators, which have been used previously to emulate computer codes in the nuclear field. The present work describes the formulation of an emulator that incorporates GPs into a factor analysis-type or pattern recognition-type model. This “function factorization” Gaussian Process (FFGP) model allows overcoming limitations present in standard GP emulators, thereby improving both accuracy and speed of the emulator-based calibration process. Calibration of a friction-factor example using a Method of Manufactured Solution is performed to illustrate key properties of the FFGP based process.

Description: This study investigates how two existing pan-tropical above-ground biomass (AGB) maps (Saatchi 2011, Baccini 2012) can be combined to derive forest ecosystem specific carbon estimates. Several data-fusion models which combine these AGB maps according to their local correlations with independent datasets such as the spectral bands of SPOT VEGETATION imagery are analyzed. Indeed these spectral bands convey information about vegetation type and structure which can be related to biomass values. Our study area is the island of Borneo. The data-fusion models are evaluated against a reference AGB map available for two forest concessions in Sabah. The highest accuracy was achieved by a model which combines the AGB maps according to the mean of the local correlation coefficients calculated over different kernel sizes. Combining the resulting AGB map with a new Borneo land cover map (whose overall accuracy has been estimated at 86.5%) leads to average AGB estimates of 279.8 t/ha and 233.1 t/ha for forests and degraded forests respectively. Lowland dipterocarp and mangrove forests have the highest and lowest AGB values (305.8 t/ha and 136.5 t/ha respectively). The AGB of all natural forests amounts to 10.8 Gt mainly stemming from lowland dipterocarp (66.4%), upper dipterocarp (10.9%) and peat swamp forests (10.2%). Degraded forests account for another 2.1 Gt of AGB. One main advantage of our approach is that, once the best fitting data-fusion model is selected, no further AGB reference dataset is required for implementing the data-fusion process. Furthermore, the local harmonization of AGB datasets leads to more spatially precise maps. This approach can easily be extended to other areas in Southeast Asia which are dominated by lowland dipterocarp forest, and can be repeated when newer or more accurate AGB maps become available.

Description: Construction and characterization of an inflatable mirror prototype made out of flexible polymeric membranes are being presented. Surfaces were curved by imposing a slight excess of air pressure. Lightweighted, lowcost, and commercially available materials were selected in order to produce solar concentration elements at competitive prices. In this sense, large-area, image-forming mirrors with low optical acuity were achieved by concentration purposes. Optical characterization of the mirror’s shape at a given pressure or curvature radius was done by means of a structuredlight technique with a resolution of 0.1 mm finding a conical shape acquired by the inflated mirror as the best approximation. Concentration ratio achieved for a focal length of 5068 mm was of 25.1 suns, making a promising approach for lowering initial investment costs in applications such as hot-water, parabolic dish with Stirling engines, or concentrated photovoltaic electricity generation.

Description: This study examined the effects of planting spacing on growth, yield, and wood properties of teak planted at square spacing regimes of 2 m, 3 m, and 4 m at Longuza Forest Plantation, Tanzania. To achieve this, tree, stand, and wood properties were studied at age of 14 years. Results showed that diameter at breast height and total height increased with increasing spacing. Mean annual increment increased significantly with increasing spacing while spacing did not have significant effect on total volume production and basal area. Basic density is also not affected by spacing while heartwood proportion increases as planting spacing increases. All studied wood properties (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, compression strength tangential to grain, and shear tangential to the grain) except cleavage tangential to grain were not significantly affected by increasing spacing. It is recommended to use the spacing of 3 × 3 m, but if thinning can be done before onset of competition at 5 years, the currently used spacing of 2.5 × 2.5 m can still be used. However, the use of a spacing of 4 × 4 m can give at least 50% heartwood at shorter rotation age of 30 years.

Description: In Southeast Asia land use change associated with forest loss and degradation is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is of particular concern where deforestation occurs on peat soils. A business-as-usual (BAU) land change model was developed using Dinamica EGO© for a REDD+ Demonstration Activity area in south-east Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia containing Berbak National Park (NP). The model output will be used as baseline land change predictions for comparison with alternative land cover management scenarios as part of a REDD+ feasibility study. The study area is approximately 376,000 ha with approximately 50% on peat soils. The model uses published 2000 and 2010 land cover maps as input and projects land cover change for thirty years until 2040. The model predicted that under a BAU scenario the forest area, 185,000 ha in 2010, will decline by 37% by 2040. In protected forest areas, approximately 50% of the study area, forest cover will reduce by 25%. Peat swamp forest will reduce by almost 37%. The greatest land cover category increases are plantation/regrowth areas (which includes oil palm) and open areas which each increase by 30,000 ha. These results indicate that the site has great potential as an Indonesian REDD+ Demonstration Activity.

Description: It is well known that the Low-Voltage DC (LVDC) distribution system is a promising topology as a future smart distribution system due to its high efficiency and reliability. However, there are still some challenges in the construction and implementation of an LVDC system. For practical application of the LVDC system, therefore, it is necessary to perform any simulation in advance by considering various conditions that can occur in an LVDC system. In order to provide a foundation for analyzing a DC system, this paper presents an LVDC distribution system model including essential components such as power electronic devices, Distributed Energy Resource (DER), and Energy Storage System (ESS), which can be considered for implementation in an LVDC system using Electro-Magnetic Transient Program (EMTP) software. Moreover, an analysis of the characteristic in both the steady state and the transient state is conducted in an LVDC distribution system.

Description: Jordan is characterized as a “water scarce” country. Therefore, conserving ecosystem services such as water regulation and soil retention is challenging. In Jordan, rainwater harvesting has been adapted to meet those challenges. However, the spatial composition and configuration features of a target landscape are rarely considered when selecting a rainwater-harvesting site. This study aimed to introduce landscape spatial features into the schemes for selecting a proper water-harvesting site. Landscape metrics analysis was used to quantify 10 metrics for three potential landscapes (i.e., Watershed 104 (WS 104), Watershed 59 (WS 59), and Watershed 108 (WS 108)) located in the Jordanian Badia region. Results of the metrics analysis showed that the three non–vegetative land cover types in the three landscapes were highly suitable for serving as rainwater harvesting sites. Furthermore, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to prioritize the fitness of the three target sites by comparing their landscape metrics. Results of AHP indicate that the non-vegetative land cover in the WS 104 landscape was the most suitable site for rainwater harvesting intervention, based on its dominance, connectivity, shape, and low degree of fragmentation. Our study advances the water harvesting network design by considering its landscape spatial pattern.

Description: Since the 90s, several studies were conducted to evaluate the predictability of the Sahelian rainy season and propose seasonal rainfall forecasts to help stakeholders to take the adequate decisions to adapt with the predicted situation. Unfortunately, two decades later, the forecasting skills remains low and forecasts have a limited value for decision making while the population is still suffering from rainfall interannual variability: this shows the limit of commonly used predictors and forecast approaches for this region. Thus, this paper developed and tested new predictors and new approaches to predict the upcoming seasonal rainfall amount over the Sirba watershed. Predictors selected through a linear correlation analysis were further processed using combined linear methods to identify those having high predictive power. Seasonal rainfall was forecasted using a set of linear and non-linear models. An average lag time up to eight months was obtained for all models. It is found that the combined linear methods performed better than non-linear, possibly because non-linear models require larger and better datasets for calibration. The R2, Nash and Hit rate score are respectively 0.53, 0.52, and 68% for the combined linear approach; and 0.46, 0.45, 61% for non-linear principal component analysis.

Description: Despite scientific progress in operationalizing sustainable development (SD), it is still hampered by methodological challenges at the regional level. We developed a framework to analyse stakeholder based, SD targets for future land use, which are characterized by different impact levels and spatial references. The framework allows for the analysis of land use demands in the context of SD. We identified societal use targets in north-eastern Germany, particularly for the area type’s lowland fens and irrigation fields, represented through strategy documents. We used frame analysis to aggregate and condense the targets into land use claims. Results present a framework for the ex-ante Sustainability Impact Assessment of land use changes at the regional level and the determination and regionalization of the future societal demand for land use functions. For future land use at the regional level, manifold land use claims exist, but on smaller scales, area-specific targets are less apparent. Six key main-use claims and 44 side-use claims were identified at the regional level and for area types. Possible trade-offs among land use claims for land use functions can be identified at each governance level. Implications of the methodological approach are discussed according to moving development targets and SD as multi-sector and multi-level governance issues.

Description: Environmental and health safety of recycled slaughterhouse wastes-derived fertilizer and the produce obtained through its application is not well understood. Waste bovine blood and rumen digesta were mixed, cooked and sun-dried to obtain bovine-blood-and-rumen-digesta-mixture (BBRDM, NPK 30.36:1:5.75). 1.26 ± 0.18 log CFU mL−1 fecal coliforms were recovered in BBRDM. E. coli O157:H7, Mycobacteria, Clostridium sp., Salmonella sp., Bacillus sp. and Brucella sp. were absent. No re-growth of pathogens was observed after 60 days storage in sealed bags and in the open. However, prions and viruses were not evaluated. Heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Cu, Zn, As, Ni, Mn) concentrations in BBRDM were within internationally permissible limits. BBRDM was applied for field cultivation of tomato during 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. Lycopene and nitrate contents of BBRDM-grown tomatoes were higher than Diammonium phosphate (DAP) + potash-grown tomatoes because BBRDM supplied 2.5 times more the amount of nitrogen than DAP (NPK 18:46:0) + potash (NPK 0:0:44). Heavy metals and nitrate/nitrite concentrations in tomatoes were within internationally acceptable limits. BBRDM-grown tomatoes showed no mutagenic activity in the Ames test. Sub-acute toxicity tests on Wistar rats fed with BBRDM-grown tomatoes did not show adverse clinical picture. Thus, no immediate environmental or health risks associated with BBRDM and the tomatoes produced were identified.

Description: It is known that properties of activated biochars are tightly associated with those of the original feedstock as well as pyrolysis and activation conditions. This study examined two feedstock types, pine wood shavings and chicken litter, to produce biochars at two different pyrolysis temperatures and subsequently activated by steam, acid or base. In order to measure activation efficiency, all materials were characterized for their properties and ability to remediate two well-known heavy metals of concern: copper and arsenic. Base activated biochars were superior in arsenic adsorption, to acid or steam activated samples, but increase in adsorption was not significant to warrant use. For wood biochars, significant increases of surface functionality as related to oxygen bearing groups and surface charge were observed upon acid activation which led to increased copper ion adsorption. However, oxygen bearing functionalities were not sufficient to explain why chicken litter biochars and steam activated biochars appeared to be significantly superior to wood shavings in positively charged metal ion adsorption. For chicken litter, functionality of respective biochars could be related to phosphate containing groups inherited from feedstock composition, favorably positioning this feedstock in metal ion remediation applications.

Description: This paper presents the results of the analysis of the Unprotected Loss of Flow (ULOF) experiment SHRT-45R performed in the EBR-II fast reactor. These experiments are being analyzed in the scope of a benchmark exercise coordinated by the IAEA. The SHRT-45R benchmark contains a neutronic and a thermal-hydraulic part and results are presented for both. Neutronic calculations are performed with the ERANOS2.0 code in combination with various sets of nuclear data. The thermal-hydraulic evaluation is done with RELAP5-3D. The results are that the major neutronic parameters are well predicted with error margins on the order of 1%. The thermal-hydraulic results are less favourable: a consistent overestimation of the outlet temperature occurs in combination with erroneous flow distribution. Observed differences with measured data cannot be explained easily. The work presented in this paper was undertaken to investigate and validate the effectiveness of the calculational tools and data that are commonly used in our lab for the design and analysis of liquid metal cooled fast reactors.

Description: Rural livelihoods and the land systems on which they depend are increasingly influenced by distant markets through economic globalization. Place-based analyses of land and livelihood system sustainability must then consider both proximate and distant influences on local decision-making. Thus, advancing land change theory in the context of economic globalization calls for a systematic understanding of the general processes as well as local contingencies shaping local responses to global signals. Synthesis of insights from place-based case studies is a path forward for developing such systematic knowledge. This paper introduces a generalized agent-based modeling framework for model-based synthesis to investigate the relative importance of structural versus agent-level factors in driving land-use and livelihood responses to changing global market signals. Six case-study sites that differed in environmental conditions, market access and influence, and livelihood settings were analyzed. Stronger market signals generally led to intensification and/or expansion of agriculture or increased non-farm labor, while changes in agents’ risk attitudes prompted heterogeneous local responses to global market signals. These results demonstrate model-based synthesis as a promising approach to overcome many of the challenges of current synthesis methods in land change science and identify generalized as well as locally contingent responses to global market signals.

Description: Climate change impacts local agricultural systems in detectable and distinguishable ways from large-scale shifts in water, land, and weather patterns to regionally specific distributions of weeds, pests, and diseases. Best management practices for adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change include modifications to farm production through adjusted intensity and product types and changing land use through crop siting and tillage practices. Farmer perceptions of risk and profitability of best management practices are key determinants of adoption, which traditional incentive programs like the Environmental Quality Incentive Program attempt to address by providing financial and technical support. To ensure that payments offered through these programs that maximize adoption, regional incentive payments must be based upon locally established costs. This paper focuses on the cost of implementing and maintaining climate change specific best management practices (CCBMPs) for twelve diverse farms in Vermont. Specifically, three CCBMPs for Vermont are examined: cover cropping, management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG), and riparian buffer strips. Results show the average cost for cover cropping is $129.24/acre, MIRG is $79.82/acre, and a tree based riparian buffer strip cost $807.33/acre. We conclude that existing incentive payments for cover cropping and MIRG are below costs, likely resulting in under-adoption.

Description: Although olive mill wastewater (OMW) is often applied onto soil and is known to be phytotoxic, its impact on soil fauna is still unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate how OMW spreading in olive orchards affects Oribatida and Collembola communities, physicochemical soil properties and their interdependency. For this, we treated plots in two study sites (Gilat, Bait Reema) with OMW. Among others, the sites differed in irrigation practice, soil type and climate. We observed that soil acidity and water repellency developed to a lower extent in Gilat than in Bait Reema. This may be explained by irrigation-induced dilution and leaching of OMW compounds in Gilat. In Bait Reema, OMW application suppressed emergence of Oribatida and induced a community shift, but the abundance of Collembola increased in OMW and water-treated plots. In Gilat, Oribatida abundance increased after OMW application. The effects of OMW application on soil biota result from an interaction between stimulation of biological activity and suppression of sensitive species by toxic compounds. Environmental and management conditions are relevant for the degree and persistence of the effects. Moreover, this study underlines the need for detailed research on the ecotoxicological effects of OMW at different application rates.

Description: Lost in the debates about the appropriate scale of production to promote agricultural growth in Africa is the rapid expansion of medium-scale farmers. Using Zambia as a case study, this article explores the causes and consequences of this middle-tier transformation on the future of small-scale agriculture. Combining political economic analysis with household survey data, this article examines the relationships between the growth in medium-scale farmers and changing conditions of land access, inequality, and alienation for small-scale farmers. Growth of medium-scale farmers is associated with high land inequality and rapid land alienation in high potential agricultural areas. This growth is shown to be partially driven by wage earner investment in land acquisition and is leading to substantial under-utilization of agricultural land. These processes are both limiting agricultural growth potential and foreclosing future options for an inclusive agricultural development strategy.

Description: In 2012 scientists funded by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) produced 10 million doses of influenza vaccine in tobacco in a milestone deadline of one month. Recently the experimental antibody cocktail Zmapp™, also produced in tobacco, has shown promise as an emergency intervention therapeutic against Ebola virus. These two examples showcase how collaborative efforts between government, private industry and academia are applying plant biotechnology to combat pathogenic agents. Opportunities now exist repurposing tobacco expression systems for exciting new applications in synthetic biology, biofuels production and industrial enzyme production. As plant-produced biotherapeutics become more mainstream, government funding agencies need to be cognizant of the idea that many plant-produced biologicals are often safer, cheaper, and just as efficacious as traditionally used expression systems.

Description: Global climate change is projected to adversely impact freshwater resources, and in many settings these impacts are already apparent. In Nigeria, these impacts can be especially severe because of limited adaptive capacity. Understanding the knowledge and attitudes of current and future Nigerian decision-makers is important to preparing Nigeria for climate change impacts. This paper examines the knowledge and attitudes of university students and government officials about the causes, effects, and priority given to climate change in Nigeria. Paper surveys were distributed to 379 study participants in Akwa Ibom and Lagos states of Nigeria. The findings reveal that approximately 90% of study participants believe that human activities are a significant cause of climate change, with no significant difference between ministry officials’ and students’ responses. Participants were less knowledgeable about the effects of climate change on Nigeria as a whole, but more aware of impacts relevant to Southern Nigeria, where study sites were located. Personal experience seemed to play a role in the knowledge and attitudes of respondents. Due to the varied climate of the country, campaigns to ensure comprehensive knowledge of climate change impacts to the entire country may be helpful.

Description: Determining the optimum angle for a solar panel is important if tracking systems are not used and a tilt angle remains constant. This article determines the sensitivity of the optimum angle to surface reflectivity at different latitudes using a mathematical model that accounts for direct, diffuse and reflected radiation. A quadratic correlation is also developed to compute the optimal angle and maximum energy as a function of latitude and reflectivity. We also seek to determine how sensitive the optimal tilt angle is to cloud cover using the 35° latitude of the Prosperity solar facility in Albuquerque, NM.

Description: Ammonia is a major fugitive gas emitted from livestock operations and fertilization production. This study tested the potential of various biochars in removing gaseous ammonia via adsorption processes. Gaseous ammonia adsorption capacities of various biochars made from wood shaving and chicken litter with different thermal conditions and activation techniques were determined using laboratory adsorption column tests. Ammonia adsorption capacities of non-activated biochars ranged from 0.15 to 5.09 mg·N/g, which were comparable to that of other commercial activated carbon and natural zeolite. There were no significant differences in ammonia adsorption capacities of steam activated and non-activated biochars even if the surface areas of the steam activated biochars were about two orders of magnitude greater than that of non-activated biochars. In contrast, phosphoric acid activation greatly increased the biochar ammonia adsorption capacity. This suggests that the surface area of biochar did not readily control gaseous NH3 adsorption. Ammonia adsorption capacities were more or less linearly increased with acidic oxygen surface groups of non-activated and steam-activated biochars. Phosphoric acid bound to the acid activated biochars is suspected to contribute to the exceptionally high ammonia adsorption capacity. The sorption capacities of virgin and water-washed biochar samples were not different, suggesting the potential to regenerate spent biochar simply with water instead of energy- and capital-intensive steam. The results of this study suggest that non-activated biochars can successfully replace commercial activated carbon in removing gaseous ammonia and the removal efficiency will greatly increase if the biochars are activated with phosphoric acid.

Description: In sub-Saharan Africa, hydro-meteorological related disasters, such as floods, account for the majority of the total number of natural disasters. Over the past century, floods have affected 38 million people, claimed several lives and caused substantial economic losses in the region. The goal of this paper is to examine how personality disposition, social network, and socio-demographic factors mitigate the complex relationship between stressful life experiences of floods and ocean surges and the adoption of coping strategies among coastal communities in Nigeria and Tanzania. Generalized linear models (GLM) were fitted to cross-sectional survey data on 1003 and 1253 individuals in three contiguous coastal areas in Nigeria and Tanzania, respectively. Marked differences in the type of coping strategies were observed across the two countries. In Tanzania, the zero-order relationships between adoption of coping strategies and age, employment and income disappeared at the multivariate level. Only experience of floods in the past year and social network resources were significant predictors of participants’ adoption of coping strategies, unlike in Nigeria, where a plethora of factors such as experience of ocean surges in the past one year, personality disposition, age, education, experience of flood in the past one year, ethnicity, income, housing quality and employment status were still statistically significant at the multivariate level. Our findings suggest that influence of previous experience on adoption of coping strategies is spatially ubiquitous. Consequently, context-specific policies aimed at encouraging the adoption of flood-related coping strategies in vulnerable locations should be designed based on local needs and orientation.

Description: Sward structure affects herbage growth, pasture species dynamics, and herbage utilization. Defoliation management has a major impact on sward structure. In particular, tiller size-tiller density compensations allow for the maintenance of herbage growth. Tiller size and tiller density are determined by several major morphogenetical components. Defoliation affects these morphogenetical components, depending on its frequency and its intensity, through several direct and indirect physiological and environmental processes. Due to the implications of leaf area removal, defoliation has a direct effect on the mobilization of C and N reserves and their supply to growing leaves. In addition, defoliation has an indirect effect on leaf and tiller morphogenesis, due to its impact on the light environment within the canopy as well as plant responses to light signals (blue light, red far red ratio). Defoliation may also in some cases have a direct negative effect on leaf growth by damaging leaf meristems. Understanding the respective role of these various physiological and environmental processes requires studies where defoliation, photosynthetic active radiation and light signals are manipulated independently. Past and recent knowledge on these direct and indirect effects of defoliation on plant morphogenesis are discussed, leading to an overall integrated view of physiological and environmental processes that lead to adaptations of sward structure in response to defoliation management. Major consequences for herbage utilization efficiency are presented.

Description: Climate change impacts on nature and the environment have been widely discussed and studied. Traditionally, a company’s continuity management is based on risk analysis. There are also attempts to implement scenario-based methods in the risk management procedures of companies. For industrial decision makers, it is vital to acknowledge the impacts of climate change with regards to their adaptation strategies. However, a scenario-based approach is not always the most effective way to analyze these risks. This paper investigates the integration of scenario and risk-based methods for a company’s adaptation planning. It considers the uncertainties of the climate change scenarios and the recognized risks as well as suitable adaptation strategies. The paper presents the results of climate risk analysis prepared for two Finnish hydropower plants. The introduced method was first piloted in 2008 and then again in 2015. The update of the analysis pointed out that at the company level, the climate risks and other risks originating from governmental or political decisions form an intertwined wholeness where the origin of the risk is difficult to outline. It seems that, from the business point of view, the main adaptation strategies suggested by the integrated risk and scenarios approach are those that support buying “safety margins” in new investments and reducing decision time horizons. Both of these adaptation strategies provide an advantage in the circumstances where also political decisions and societal changes have a great effect on decision making.

Description: The Californian Floristic Province, ranging from Northern California, USA, to the northwestern portion of the state of Baja California, Mexico, is a region of great biological richness that has a high risk of loss of species due to the effect of human activities. The main stressor that threatens its biodiversity is the change in land use and vegetation cover, which severely impacts the environmental and socio-economic systems’ functioning, affecting the provision of environmental services including the maintenance of biodiversity. The Tijuana River Watershed (TRW) is located within this floristic province. It has experienced rapid population growth during the last 50 years, demanding development of infrastructure in areas where native vegetation existed. As a binational watershed, it is an ideal area to study the processes involved in fragmentation and connectivity of natural environments, since both countries, while sharing the same environment, contrast greatly in their economic and social systems, which impose different pressures to these shared natural resources. Our research addresses change in vegetation cover and land use in the TRW, analyzing the changes and differences between Mexico and the United States. This analysis will be a basis to propose future management strategies for the conservation of ecological processes and biodiversity, according to the policies and actions for land management and conservation in both countries.

Description: Madagascar is renowned for the loss of the forested habitat of lemurs and other species endemic to the island. Less well known is that in the highlands, a region often described as an environmental “basket-case” of fire-degraded, eroded grasslands, woody cover has been increasing for decades. Using information derived from publically available high- and medium-resolution satellites, this study characterizes tree cover dynamics in the highlands of Madagascar over the past two decades. Our results reveal heterogeneous patterns of increased tree cover on smallholder farms and village lands, spurred by a mix of endogenous and exogenous forces. The new trees play important roles in rural livelihoods, providing renewable supplies of firewood, charcoal, timber and other products and services, as well as defensible claims to land tenure in the context of a decline in the use of hillside commons for grazing. This study documents this nascent forest transition through Land Change Science techniques, and provides a prologue to political ecological analysis by setting these changes in their social and environmental context and interrogating the costs and benefits of the shift in rural livelihood strategies.

Description: Energy efficiency has been an important topic since the latter part of the last century. This is because adoption of energy efficiency measures has been acknowledged as one of the key methods of addressing the negative impact of climate change. In Zambia, however, the need to adopt energy efficiency measures has not just been driven by the imperative to mitigate the negative effects of climate change but also by a critical shortage of energy. This research looks at households’ energy consumption behavior in low- and high-income areas of Kitwe. Recent studies on the relationship between household energy consumption and behavioral lifestyle have been descriptive, with limited emphasis on the relationships between various variables. In this study, descriptive and inferential statistics have been used to investigate relationships between the two income groups and various energy consumption-related variables such as knowledge about energy reduction measures, energy saving strategies, barriers to the use of energy saving strategies, and the motives for using energy reduction strategies. Methodologically, the study was largely quantitative in nature, with questionnaires administered to a combined total of 56 households. However, key interviews were also conducted that helped us to get a clearer understanding of some of the issues covered in the research. Key findings are that whereas the descriptive statistics show that there are behavioral differences between the two income groups, the inferential statistics show that there is no relationship between income level and the energy efficiency variables. This has been found to be consistent with results from studies done elsewhere. The key lesson is that there is low usage of energy efficiency measures in both low- and high-income areas and that the authorities need to change the way information is disseminated to consumers from the current method of advertising to social diffusion.

Description: This paper seeks to understand the drivers and pathways of local livelihood change and the prospects for transformation towards a more sustainable future. Data are used from several studies, and a participatory social learning process, which formed part of a larger project in two sites in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Secondary information from a wealth of related work is used to place our results within the historic context and more general trends in the country. Findings indicate that livelihoods in the rural Eastern Cape are on new trajectories. Agricultural production has declined markedly, at a time when the need for diversification of livelihoods and food security seems to be at a premium. This decline is driven by a suite of drivers that interact with, and are influenced by, other changes and stresses affecting local livelihoods. We distil out the factors, ranging from historical processes to national policies and local dynamics, that hamper peoples’ motivation and ability to respond to locally identified vulnerabilities and, which, when taken together, could drive households into a trap. We end by considering the transformations required to help local people evade traps and progress towards a more promising future in a context of increasing uncertainty.

Description: Land uses are changing rapidly in Vietnam’s upland northern borderlands. Regional development platforms such as the Greater Mekong Subregion, state-propelled market integration and reforestation programs, and lowland entrepreneurs and migrants are all impacting this frontier landscape. Drawing on a mixed methods approach using remote sensing data from 2000 to 2009 and ethnographic fieldwork, we examine how land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) has occurred across three borderland provinces—Lai Châu, Lào Cai and Hà Giang—with high proportions of ethnic minority semi-subsistence farmers. After a broad examination of regional land-use changes, we select three case studies to further analyze the underlying relationships between specific LULCC and local livelihood diversification strategies. These include specific patterns of urban growth due to a range of political decisions in Lai Châu and Lào Cai Provinces; reforestation due to non-timber forest (NTFP) product cultivation in the west of Lào Cai Province; and a stable landscape that restricts government attempts at refashioning upland livelihoods in the east of Hà Giang. Our findings point to the difficulties of completing LULCC maps for this highly heterogeneous region and the complexity of LULCC and livelihood interactions and relationships examined on the ground.

Description: This paper presents a new approach to assess the soil quality by aggregate indices using the Relative Soil Quality Index (RSQI) proposed by Ho Ngoc Pham. RSQI is integrated from the individual indices into a simple formula for overall assessment of the soil quality. RSQI is different from other approaches. Particularly, the individual indices and the weighting factors of Pham are calculated from the analytical laboratory data and the environmental standards, respectively, and not self-regulated as in methods of some other authors. In this paper, the authors applied the RSQI to assess the Soil Environmental Quality of rice intensive cultivation areas through a case study in Haiduong province in 2013. The RSQI is calculated for sampling points in 12 districts and simulated the Soil Environmental Quality on GIS map. The results show that the Soil Environmental Quality of rice intensive cultivation areas in Haiduong is predominantly divided into three levels: good, moderate, and poor. According to the report of General Statistics Office for Haiduong province, rice intensive cultivation areas in 2013 achieved a relatively high average rice yield of 5.90 tonnes per hectare; it means actual soil properties are in line with results of the research.

Description: We developed an agent-based model (ABM) to simulate farmers’ decisions on crop type and fertilizer application in response to commodity and biofuel crop prices. Farm profit maximization constrained by farmers’ profit expectations for land committed to biofuel crop production was used as the decision rule. Empirical parameters characterizing farmers’ profit expectations were derived from an agricultural landowners and operators survey and integrated in the ABM. The integration of crop production cost models and the survey information in the ABM is critical to producing simulations that can provide realistic insights into agricultural land use planning and policy making. Model simulations were run with historical market prices and alternative market scenarios for corn price, soybean to corn price ratio, switchgrass price, and switchgrass to corn stover ratio. The results of the comparison between simulated cropland percentage and crop rotations with satellite-based land cover data suggest that farmers may be underestimating the effects that continuous corn production has on yields. The simulation results for alternative market scenarios based on a survey of agricultural land owners and operators in the Clear Creek Watershed in eastern Iowa show that farmers see cellulosic biofuel feedstock production in the form of perennial grasses or corn stover as a more risky enterprise than their current crop production systems, likely because of market and production risks and lock in effects. As a result farmers do not follow a simple farm-profit maximization rule.

Description: Green synthesis of metallic particles has become an economic way to improve and protect the environment by decreasing the use of toxic chemicals and eliminating dyes. The synthesis of metal particles is gaining more importance due to its simplicity, rapid rate of synthesis of particles, and environmentally friendly. The present work aims to report a novel and environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of iron particles using deoiled Pimenta dioica L. Merrill husk as support. The indigo carmine removal efficiency by ozonation and catalyzed ozonation is also presented. Synthesized materials were characterized by N2 physisorption and scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDS). By UV-Vis spectrophotometry the removal efficiency of indigo carmine was found to be nearly 100% after only 20 minutes of treatment under pH 3 and with a catalyst loading of 1000 mgL−1. Analytical techniques such as determination of the total organic carbon content (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) showed that iron particles supported on deoiled Pimenta dioica L. Merrill husk can be efficiently employed to degrade indigo carmine and achieved a partial mineralization (conversion to CO2 and H2O) of the molecule. From the results can be inferred that the prepared biocomposite increases the hydroxyl radicals generation.

Description: The individual methods of disinfection peracetic acid (PAA) and UV radiation and combined process PAA/UV in water (synthetic) and sanitary wastewater were employed to verify the individual and combined action of these advanced oxidative processes on the effectiveness of inactivation of microorganisms indicators of fecal contamination E. coli, total coliforms (in the case of sanitary wastewater), and coliphages (such as virus indicators). Under the experimental conditions investigated, doses of 2, 3, and 4 mg/L of PAA and contact time of 10 minutes and 60 and 90 s exposure to UV radiation, the results indicated that the combined method PAA/UV provided superior efficacy when compared to individual methods of disinfection.

Description: Bornean heath (Kerangas) forests are a unique and increasingly rare tropical forest ecosystem that remains little studied. We quantified tree floristic diversity in Kerangas forests in the Tutong White Sands, Brunei Darussalam, and investigated the influence of soil and environmental variables on community composition. Six 20 m × 20 m plots were established, where all trees of ≥5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) were identified and measured to determine stem diameter and basal area. We determined pH, gravimetric water content, and concentrations of total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in topsoil, as well as litter depth and percentage canopy openness. A total of 296 trees were recorded, representing 78 species in 59 genera and 38 families. Stem diameter, basal area, species richness, and species diversity differed significantly among the six plots. The NMDS ordination revealed that differences in tree community compositions were significantly associated with total N concentrations and percentage canopy openness. Despite the small sampling area, we recorded several Bornean endemic tree species (16/78 tree species; 20.5%), including several IUCN Red List endangered and vulnerable species. Our results illustrate the potentially high conservation value of the Kerangas forests in the Tutong White Sands and highlight the urgent need to protect and conserve this area.

Description: A detailed statistical analysis was performed at the Neuquén river basin using precipitation data for 1980–2007. The hydrological year begins in March with a maximum in June associated with rainfall and another relative maximum in October derived from snow-break. General features of the rainy season and the excess or deficits thereof are analyzed using standardized precipitation index (SPI) for a six-month period in the basin. The SPI has a significant cycle of 14.3 years; the most severe excess (SPI greater than 2) has a return period of 25 years, while the most severe droughts (SPI less than −2) have a return period of 10 years. The SPI corresponding to the rainy season (April–September) (SPI9) has no significant trend and is used to classify wet/dry years. In order to establish the previous circulation patterns associated with interannual SPI9 variability, the composite fields of wet and dry years are compared. There is a tendency for wet (dry) periods to take place during El Niño (La Niña) years, when there are positive anomalies of precipitable water over the basin, when the zonal flow over the Pacific Ocean is weakened (intensified) and/or when there are negative pressure anomalies in the southern part of the country and Antarctic sea. Some prediction schemes using multiple linear regressions were performed. One of the models derived using the forward stepwise method explained 42% of the SPI9 variance and retained two predictors related to circulation over the Pacific Ocean: one of them shows the relevance of the intensity of zonal flow in mid-latitudes, and the other is because of the influence of low pressure near the Neuquén River basin. The cross-validation used to prove model efficiency showed a correlation of 0.41 between observed and estimated SPI9; there was a probability of detection of wet (dry) years of 80% (65%) and a false alarm relation of 25% in both cases.

Description: The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) version 4.4 Regional Climate Model (RegCM4) is used to investigate the rainfall response to cooler/warmer sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) forcing in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The effect of SSTA forcing in a specific ocean basin is identified by ensemble, averaging 10 individual simulations in which a constant or linearly zonally varying SSTA is prescribed in individual basins while specifying the 1971–2000 monthly varying climatological sea surface temperature (SST) across the remaining model domain. The nonlinear rainfall response to SSTA amplitude also is investigated by separately specifying +1K, +2K, and +4K SSTA forcing in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The simulation results show that warm SSTs over the entire Indian Ocean produce drier conditions across the larger Blue Nile catchment, whereas warming ≥ +2K generates large positive rainfall anomalies exceeding 10 mm·day−1 over drought prone regions of Northeastern Ethiopia. However, the June–September rainy season tends to be wetter (drier) when the SST warming (cooling) is limited to either the Northern or Southern Indian Ocean. Wet rainy seasons generally are characterized by deepening of the monsoon trough, east of 40°E, intensification of the Mascarene high, strengthening of the Somali low level jet and the tropical easterly jet, enhanced zonal and meridional vertically integrated moisture fluxes, and steeply vertically decreasing moist static energy. The opposite conditions hold for dry monsoon seasons.

Description: The north-eastern escarpment of Madagascar harbours the island’s last remaining large-scale humid forest massifs surrounded by a small-scale agricultural mosaic. There is high deforestation, commonly thought to be caused by shifting cultivation practiced by local land users to produce upland rice. However, little is known about the dynamics between forest and shifting cultivation systems at a regional level. Our study presents a first attempt to quantify changes in the extent of forest and different agricultural land cover classes, and to identify the main dynamics of land cover change for two intervals, 1995–2005 and 2005–2011. Over the 16-year study period, the speed of forest loss increased, the total area of upland rice production remained almost stable, and the area of irrigated rice fields slightly increased. While our findings seem to confirm a general trend of land use intensification, deforestation through shifting cultivation is still on the rise. Deforestation mostly affects the small forest fragments interspersed in the agricultural mosaic and is slowly leading to a homogenization of the landscape. These findings have important implications for future interventions to slow forest loss in the region, as the processes of agricultural expansion through shifting cultivation versus intensified land use cannot per se be considered mutually exclusive.

Description: Arsenic (As) in soils causes several detrimental effects, including death. Arsenic toxicity in soybean plants (Glycine max L.) has been little studied. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) increase the tolerance of host plants to abiotic stress, like As. We investigated the effects of AM fungi on soybean grown in As-contaminated soils. A pot experiment was carried out in a glasshouse, at random with five replications. We applied three levels of As (0, 25, and 50 mg As kg−1), inoculated and non-inoculated with the AM fungus Rhizophagus intraradices (N.C. Schenck & G.S. Sm.) C. Walker & A. Schüßler. Plant parameters and mycorrhizal colonization were measured. Arsenic in the substrate, roots, and leaves was quantified. Arsenic negatively affected the AM percentage of spore germination and hyphal length. As also affected soybean plants negatively: an extreme treatment caused a reduction of more than 77.47% in aerial biomass, 68.19% in plant height, 78.35% in number of leaves, and 44.96% reduction in root length, and delayed the phenological evolution. Mycorrhizal inoculation improved all of these parameters, and decreased plant As accumulation (from 7.8 mg As kg−1 to 6.0 mg As kg−1). AM inoculation showed potential to reduce As toxicity in contaminated areas. The AM fungi decreased As concentration in plants following different ways: dilution effect, less As intake by roots, and improving soybean tolerance to As.

Description: A new dynamical downscaling methodology to analyze the impact of global climate change on the local climate of cities worldwide is presented. The urban boundary layer climate model UrbClim is coupled to 11 global climate models contained in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 archive, conducting 20-year simulations for present (1986–2005) and future (2081–2100) climate conditions, considering the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 climate scenario. The evolution of the urban heat island of eight different cities, located on three continents, is quantified and assessed, with an unprecedented horizontal resolution of a few hundred meters. For all cities, urban and rural air temperatures are found to increase strongly, up to 7 °C. However, the urban heat island intensity in most cases increases only slightly, often even below the range of uncertainty. A potential explanation, focusing on the role of increased incoming longwave radiation, is put forth. Finally, an alternative method for generating urban climate projections is proposed, combining the ensemble temperature change statistics and the results of the present-day urban climate.

Description: The big advantage of LED is the flexible spectral design to make white light using different color mixing schemes. Recently, the color mixing of RGB LEDs is mostly done by sealing all three chips at single package and regulated the mix ratio of these three colors to produce the color of light. And, by changing the LEDs array alignment, RGB chips can achieve overlapping colors of light and create the fun of changing colors in light mixing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose an innovative technique of light mixing. By applying the mechanism design, a RGB light mixing mechanism is produced. Each of the RGB LEDs lamp-type is installed on the couple link of the three mechanisms, respectively. By driving a crank makes the couple link and an output link to produce the relative motion, this will result in the fact that the RGB lamps can project lights on the same plane in order to obtain the color mixing. Unlike mixing technique by control system, this design generates light mixing and changes of color with the synchronized driving of three mechanisms, thus achieving the dazzling perception of single-color lights or mixing of multiple colors for creating ambience of a space.

Description: We report on the photodegradation of diclofenac (DCF) by hydrothermal anatase nanocrystals either free or immobilized in porous silica matrix (TS) in connection to the type and amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS), in order to have deeper insight into their role in the photocatalysis and to provide an effective tool to implement the DCF mineralization. TiO2 and TS exhibit a remarkable efficiency in the DCF abatement, supporting that the utilization of anatase nanoparticles with the highly reactive , , and exposed surfaces can be an effective way for enhancing the photooxidation even of the persistent pollutants. Furthermore, the hydrothermal TiO2, when immobilized in silica matrix, preserves its functional properties, combining high photoactivity with an easy technical use and recovery of the catalyst. The catalysts performances have been related to the presence of OH•, , and species by electron paramagnetic resonance spin-trap technique. The results demonstrated that the ROS concentration increases with the increase of photoactivity and indicated a significant involvement of in the DCF degradation. The efficacy of TiO2 when immobilized on a silica matrix was associated with the high ROS life time and with the presence of singlet oxygen, which contributes to the complete photomineralization of DCF.

Description: Although Australia exports more than half of its agricultural production, there are food security problems as the current food supply systems in Australia fail to deliver healthy diets to all Australians and fail to protect the natural resources on which they depend. In addition, the food systems create “collateral damage” to the natural environment including biodiversity loss. In coming decades, Australia’s food supply systems will be increasingly challenged by resource price inflation and falling yields due to climate change. Government and business are aiming to increase production and agricultural exports. This will increase pressure on agricultural resources and exacerbate “collateral” damage to the environment. The Australian public has an ongoing interest in issues associated with the food systems including the environment, education, health and sustainability. A health-giving diet is essential for a full life and over a life-time people need food security. Currently economy development and social planning is undertaken through the pragmatic application of a set of ideas, such as relying on markets and deregulation, collectively referred to as neoliberalism. This paper contends that the neoliberal approach is not solving the current and developing problems in food security and agriculture more generally and suggests that more emphasis should be given to alternatives approaches. Seven alternatives approaches are suggested that could be used to identify gaps and guide the creation of overarching goals in economic development and social planning to improve food security and secure the other material goods and social arrangements that all Australians require to live full lives. However, changing large systems such as those involved in food supply is difficult because vested interests in the existing arrangements make the current systems resilient to change. There are a range of leverage points that have differing abilities to change systems. The paper points out that goals and information flows are good leverage points and suggests establishing overarching goals for the systems relevant to food and restructuring the flow of information about these systems will help reform the food supply systems in Australia.

Description: Maize (Zea mays L) is the most important food grain in sub-Saharan Africa and is mostly grown by small-scale farmers under rainfed conditions. Aluminum toxicity caused by low pH is one of the abiotic factors limiting maize production among smallholder farmers. Therefore, breeding maize hybrids that are tolerant to aluminum toxicity will sustain and increase maize production in these areas. Hence this study was undertaken to assess the genotypic variation for aluminum toxicity in maize inbred lines. Fourteen maize inbred lines of historical importance that are used in maize hybrid breeding in Zambia were studied for seedling root variation under different aluminum concentrations using hydroponic conditions. The aluminum tolerance membership index based on three traits (actual root length, relative root length and root length response) classified genotypes L3233 and L1214 as highly tolerant, L5527 and ZM421 as tolerant, and L12, L3234, and ZM521 as intermediate. The high PCV, GCV, and heritability observed for the root traits indicate that opportunities for selection and breeding for aluminum tolerance among Zambian inbred lines exist. Furthermore, the study indicated that a higher genetic gain would be expected from net root growth followed by shoot length response as selection traits, thus supporting the use of root traits for aluminum tolerance screening.

Description: This paper reports two numerical simulation methods for modeling displacement instabilities around a surface groove in a metal substrate used in nuclear power plant. The amplitude change in the groove, the downward displacement at the base node, and the groove displacement at the periphery were simulated using ABAQUS to compare the results from two methods, as well as the tangential stress in the elements at the groove base and periphery. The comparison showed that for the tangential stress two methods were in close agreement for all thermal cycles. For the amplitude change, the downward displacement, the groove displacement, and the stress distribution, the two methods were in close agreement for the first 3 to 6 thermal cycles. After that, inconsistency increased with the number of thermal cycles. It is interesting that the thermal cycle at which the discrepancy between the two methods began to occur corresponded to a thermally grown oxide (TGO) thickness of 1 μm, which showed the accuracy of the present work over the classic method. It is concluded that the present work’s numerical simulation scheme worked better with a thinner TGO layer than the classic method and could overcome the limitation of TGO thickness by simulating any thickness.

Description: This paper discusses agri-food economies and how they evolve over time. It also analyses how these economies, which often have contradictory dynamics, are theorized. A central thesis of the paper is that different theoretical representations not only reflect the differences in agro-economies and their developmental tendencies, but are also important drivers that actively shape the trajectories that they describe. The paper concludes by arguing that, more often than not, it is the newly emerging alternatives that are taking the initiative, responding to changing socio-economic demands while the hegemonic systems are merely reacting to the emerging alternatives. While it is possible that the alternatives might be appropriated and ‘conventionalized’ by the hegemonic systems, it is equally possible that the alternatives, especially when interconnected and rooted in democratic institutions, might induce a generalized crisis in the food systems that are currently dominant.

Description: The objective of this study is to understand which requirements for cereal cultivars—with regard to climate change adaptation—are in demand by farmers and advisors, and to clarify whether there are any differences in their assessments. A comparative survey was used to collect data from 410 farmers and 114 advisors in Germany. The majority of both farmers and advisors reported perceivable effects of climatic change on plant production. The increase in droughts and hot spells, the increased incidence of torrential rain, and mild winters were mentioned as the main effects of climate change. For climate change adaptation, the farmers and advisors mostly relied on a locally-adapted cultivar selection. It is estimated that eco-stability, grain yield, resistance to lodging and drought tolerance are important cultivar properties. In the study, farmers and advisors equally pointed out the need for additional cultivar evaluation according to eco-stability. Finally, only minor differences regarding farmers’ and advisors’ assessments were found within the study. The outcome of this research points to the need of implementing farmers’ demands in cultivar recommendations. For example, an impartial assessment of cultivars’ eco-stability could help support the choice of cultivars and reduce the growing risks in cereal production with regard to climate change.

Description: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of exogenous application of salicylic acid concentrations on the physiological and biochemical traits and essential oil content of chamomile under normal and heat stress conditions as induced by delayed sowing. The experiments were conducted during 2011–2012 as a factorial using a randomized complete block design with three replications, in a very hot region. The factors included five salicylic acid concentrations (0 (control), 1, 10, 25 and 100 mg·L−1) and three chamomile cultivars (Bushehr, Bona, Bodegold). The seeds of chamomile were sown on two different sowing dates including an optimum planting date and a late planting date. The physiological traits (plant height, capitol diameter, 1000 grain weight, fresh and dried flower weight), total chlorophyll, proline and essential oil content were investigated. Analysis of variance showed that the effect of the environmental conditions (normal and heat stress) was significant on all physiological and biochemical traits with the exception of the essential oil content. The heat stress decreased physiological traits and total chlorophyll in comparison with the normal conditions but it had no significant effect on the essential oil content. Findings indicated that the application of exogenous salicylic acid improves essential oil content in chamomile cultivars under environmental heat stress conditions.

Description: Forests are a vital resource supporting the livelihoods of rural communities in Kenya. In spite of this significant role, human activities have put increased pressure on this resource, leading to continued forest-cover decline. To address forest-cover decline, the Kenyan government introduced Participatory Forest Management (PFM) through its Forest Department in the early 2000s, enabling local communities to form and register Community Forest Associations (CFAs). This study was conducted to examine the impacts of the PFM approach on the Lembus Forest-cover change. Three Landsat satellite images (Landsat 5 TM acquired on 9 January 1985; Landsat 7 ETM+ acquired on 1 February 2002; and Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) acquired on 1 March 2015) were used to analyse forest-cover change in the 1st period (1985–2002) and the 2nd period (2002–2015). In analysing the contribution of CFAs in conservation and management of the Lembus Forest, questionnaire sheets were distributed randomly to various residents living adjacent to the Lembus Forest; 327 valid responses were obtained from heads of households. The results of the land-cover change show a decrease in the percentage of forest-cover decline from 11.2%, registered in the 1st period, to 8.2% in the 2nd period. This led to the decrease of the annual rate of the forest-cover decline from 0.4 in the 1st period to 0.2 in the 2nd period. Three CFAs operate in this area, and 75% of the respondents participated in tree planting and 16% participated in tree pruning. This type of community participation is thought to most likely be the cause of the decline of the recent decreasing annual rate of forest-cover loss in the study area. Conversely, we found out that important initiatives, such as a forest patrol, had not been implemented due to lack of funding, and that CFAs and Kenya Forest Service had not yet signed any management agreement.

Description: The aim of this work was to couple physical-chemical approaches with photocatalysis to reduce by a simple, inexpensive way the organic load of olive mill wastewater (OMW), mandatorily prior to the final discharge. Before irradiation, different sorbents were tested to remove part of the organic fraction, monitored by measuring chemical oxygen demand (COD) and polyphenols (PP). Different low-cost, safe materials were tested, that is, Y zeolite (ZY), montmorillonite, and sepiolite. Considerable decrease of organic load was obtained, with the highest abatement (40%) provided by ZY (10 g L−1 in 1 : 10 OMW). Use of the three sorbents, in particular ZY, was convenient compared to commercial activated carbons. UV light photocatalytic tests, performed using P25 TiO2 on ZY-treated OMW, yielded quantitative remediation (ca. 90%). Also solar light provided significative results, PP being lowered by 74% and COD by 56%. Sol-gel anatase TiO2 and N-doped anatase TiO2 were also tested, obtaining good results, around 80% PP and 40% COD. Finally, an integrated approach was experimented by ZY-supported anatase TiO2 (TiO2@ZY). This photoreactive sorbent allowed one-pot treatment of OMW significative abatements of PP (77%) and COD (39%) with only 1 g L−1 material, under solar light.

Description: Molybdenum (Mo) thin films are widely used as rear electrodes in copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells. The challenge in Mo deposition by magnetron sputtering lies in simultaneously achieving good adhesion to the substrates while retaining the electrical and optical properties. Bilayer Mo films, comprising five different thickness ratios of a high pressure (HP) deposited bottom layer and a low pressure (LP) deposited top layer, were deposited on 40 cm × 30 cm soda-lime glass substrates by DC magnetron sputtering. We focus on understanding the effects of the individual layer properties on the resulting bilayer Mo films, such as microstructure, surface morphology, and surface oxidation. We show that the thickness of the bottom HP Mo layer plays a major role in determining the micromechanical and physical properties of the bilayer Mo stack. Our studies reveal that a thicker HP Mo bottom layer not only improves the adhesion of the bilayer Mo, but also helps to improve the film crystallinity along the preferred [] direction. However, the surface roughness and the porosity of the bilayer Mo films are found to increase with increasing bottom layer thickness, which leads to lower optical reflectance and a higher probability for oxidation at the Mo surface.

Description: Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) is a powerful technique for trace element determination in rocks. Nine alabaster samples were collected from Wadi El-Nakhil located at the intersection of lat. 26°10′50′′N and long. 34°03′40′′E, central Eastern Desert, Egypt, for investigation by INAA and Energy Depressive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). The samples were irradiated by thermal neutrons at the TRIGA Mainz research reactor at a neutron flux of 7 × 1011 n/cm2·s. Twenty-two elements were determined, namely, As, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Sc, Fe, Hf, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, U, Zn, Zr, Lu, Ce, Sm, La, Yb, and Eu. The chemical analysis of alabaster indicated having high contents of CaO and MgO and LOI and low contents of SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O, K2O, MnO, and Fe2O3.

Description: Extreme rainfall events are meteorological hazards that cause great damage and many casualties in the world. This paper examines the trends in extreme rainfall from 10 sub-daily time series and 44 daily time series in Côte d’Ivoire. Rainfall data were converted into indices. In total, six (6) indices were used for daily extreme rainfall and one (1) index for sub-daily extreme rainfall (15 to 240 min). Two statistical tests for trend detection were used to evaluate the possible trend in these precipitation data. The first is a Mann-Kendall non-parametric trend test, used to evaluate the existence of monotonic trends. The second is a linear regression method, based on a parametric approach to trend detection. Results show that very few statistically significant decreasing trends can be detected at the sub-daily and daily timescales. Some decreasing trends in extreme rainfall events were localized in the south and southeast. These results could enhance the implementation of adaptation systems to flood risk.

Description: This paper reports the results of sensitivity analysis of the multidimension, multigroup neutron diffusion NODAL3 code for the NEACRP 3D LWR core transient benchmarks (PWR). The code input parameters covered in the sensitivity analysis are the radial and axial node sizes (the number of radial node per fuel assembly and the number of axial layers), heat conduction node size in the fuel pellet and cladding, and the maximum time step. The output parameters considered in this analysis followed the above-mentioned core transient benchmarks, that is, power peak, time of power peak, power, averaged Doppler temperature, maximum fuel centerline temperature, and coolant outlet temperature at the end of simulation (5 s). The sensitivity analysis results showed that the radial node size and maximum time step give a significant effect on the transient parameters, especially the time of power peak, for the HZP and HFP conditions. The number of ring divisions for fuel pellet and cladding gives negligible effect on the transient solutions. For productive work of the PWR transient analysis, based on the present sensitivity analysis results, we recommend NODAL3 users to use radial nodes per assembly, axial layers per assembly, the maximum time step of 10 ms, and 9 and 1 ring divisions for fuel pellet and cladding, respectively.