536 research outputs found
A metabolism perspective on alternative urban water servicing options using water mass balance
Urban areas will need to pursue new water servicing options to ensure local supply security. Decisions about how best to employ them are not straightforward due to multiple considerations and the potential for problem shifting among them. We hypothesise that urban water metabolism evaluation based a water mass balance can help address this, and explore the utility of this perspective and the new insights it provides about water servicing options. Using a water mass balance evaluation framework, which considers direct urban water flows (both ânaturalâ hydrological and âanthropogenicâ flows), as well as water-related energy, we evaluated how the use of alternative water sources (stormwater/rainwater harvesting, wastewater/greywater recycling) at different scales influences the âlocal water metabolismâ of a case study urban development. New indicators were devised to represent the water-related âresource efficiencyâ and âhydrological performanceâ of the urban area. The new insights gained were the extent to which alternative water supplies influence the water efficiency and hydrological performance of the urban area, and the potential energy trade-offs. The novel contribution is the development of new indicators of urban water resource performance that bring together considerations of both the âanthropogenicâ and ânaturalâ water cycles, and the interactions between them. These are used for the first time to test alternative water servicing scenarios, and to provide a new perspective to complement broader sustainability assessments of urban water
An inclusive city water account by integrating multiple data sources for South-East Queensland (SEQ), Australia
Cities are the hotspots of impacts on local and distant water resources through economic activity and consumption. More than half of the world's population lives in cities, which is expected to reach around two-thirds by 2050. Such a high level of increased urbanization calls for higher attention towards inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities (Sustainable Development Goals 11). To evaluate sustainability, inclusiveness, and resiliency pathways, a variety of sustainability indicators have been proposed, including the water footprint. The water footprint is defined as the total volume of freshwater used for the goods and services consumed. It covers both direct (e.g. drinking and cleaning) and virtual water flows (water used in the goods and services supply chain, hence also known as embedded water). Virtual water flows through products and services produced in other locations using their water resources influence the function, prosperity, and growth of the cities. Yet, this aspect is absent in the sustainability and strategic city water footprint reduction goals of Australian cities. To fully account for the water dependencies of Australian cities, direct and virtual water flows need to be known. To this purpose, we build inclusive city water of South-East Queensland (SEQ) by combining material flow analysis (MFA) and the multiregional input-output (MRIO) model. Water consumption in SEQ is used to quantify the water footprint on local water resources and net blue virtual water import. Together, this constitutes the water footprint on national water resources. Our results show that the water footprint of SEQ on local water resources is 620 GL with a net virtual water import of 1382 GL. Therefore, the water footprint of SEQ on national water resources is 2002 GL. The water footprint of SEQ on local water resources consists of direct water consumption by households (192 GL) and the industrial sector (428 GL). The consumed direct water of the SEQ industrial sector flows as virtual water to SEQ (149 GL), the rest of Australia (RoAUS) (all other regions except SEQ) (211 GL), and the rest of the world (68 GL). The virtual water inflows breakdown by source regions showed that 386 GL, 1019 GL, and 256 GL of virtual water imported from the major cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth); regional areas of NSW, Victoria, and QLD; and RoAUS, respectively. Overall, the proposed inclusive city water account can enhance subnational estimates of city water footprint for benchmarking, as well as inclusive and resilient city water planning
The S shape of a granular pile in a rotating drum
The shape of a granular pile in a rotating drum is investigated. Using
Discrete Elements Method (DEM) simulations we show that the "S shape" obtained
for high rotation speed can be accounted for by the friction on the end plates.
A theoretical model which accounts for the effect of the end plates is
presented and the equation of the shape of the free surface is derived. The
model reveals a dimensionless number which quantifies the influence of the end
plates on the shape of the pile. Finally, the scaling laws of the system are
discussed and numerical results support our conclusions
Changes in Grape Maturity Induced by Spraying Ethanol
Three different ethanol solutions were sprayed onto Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.) clusters during the ripening period: 2.5, 5 and 10% by volume in water. Controls were sprayed with water alone. Three different times of spraying were also tested: 8, 10 and 13 weeks post-flowering. One of the observed changes was a lower titratable acidity in grape samples at harvest, when the clusters were sprayed with ethanol at 10 weeks, in comparison with controls. The wines made with grapes treated with ethanol after mid-veraison, had higher ODs at 520 nm than did the controls. This may due to a combined effect of red pigment levels and acidity. In addition, following malolactic fermentation, the acidity levels of wines made with ethanoltreated grapes were slightly higher than those made with the control grapes. Spraying ethanol at 13 weeks post-flowering increased the berry weight by 10% at harvest without decreasing the °Brix value. The corresponding wines had similar degrees of alcohol. This observation was made for the first time in 2001
Emotional responses to climate change information and their effects on policy support
IntroductionAs emotions are strong predictors of climate policy support, we examined multiple discrete emotions that people experience in reaction to various types of information about climate change: its causes, the scientific consensus, its impacts, and solutions. Specifically, we assessed the relationships between four types of messages and five discrete emotions (guilt, anger, hope, fear, and sadness), testing whether these emotions mediate the impacts of information on support for climate policy.MethodsAn online experiment exposed participants (N = 3,023) to one of four informational messages, assessing participants' emotional reactions to the message and their support for climate change mitigation policies as compared to a no-message control group.ResultsEach message, except the consensus message, enhanced the feeling of one or more emotions, and all of the emotions, except guilt, were positively associated with policy support. Two of the messages had positive indirect effects on policy support: the impacts message increased sadness, which in turn increased policy support, and the solutions message increased hope, which increased policy support. However, the solutions message also reduced every emotion except hope, while the impacts, causes, and consensus messages each suppressed hope.DiscussionThese findings indicate that climate information influences multiple emotions simultaneously and that the aroused emotions may conflict with one another in terms of fostering support for climate change mitigation policies. To avoid simultaneously arousing a positive motivator while depressing another, message designers should focus on developing content that engages audiences across multiple emotional fronts
Yeasts and wine off-flavours: a technological perspective
Review article. Part of the special issue "Wine microbiology and safety: from the vineyard to the bottle (Microsafety Wine)", 19-20 Nov. 2009, ItalyIn wine production, yeasts have both beneficial
and detrimental activities. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the
yeast mainly responsible for turning grape juice into wine
but this species and several others may also show
undesirable effects in wines. Among such effects, technologists
are particularly concerned with the production of offflavours
that may occur during all stages of winemaking.
Typical spoiling activities include the production of ethyl
acetate by apiculate yeasts before fermentation, hydrogen
sulphide by S. cerevisiae during fermentation phases,
acetaldehyde by film-forming yeasts during bulk storage,
and volatile phenols by Dekkera bruxellensis during storage
or after bottling. The occurrence of these hazards depends
on the technological operations designed to obtain a given
type of wine and most can be avoided by current preventive
or curative measures. On the contrary, good manufacturing
practices must be strengthened to deal with the problem of
volatile phenol production in red wines. Appropriate
monitoring of D. bruxellensis populations and quantification
of 4-ethylphenol is advised during storage, particularly
when oak barrels are used, and absence of viable cells must
be guaranteed in bottled wines. This work, which is based
on our experience at winery level, aims to provide
information on appropriate technological strategies to deal
with the problem of off-flavours produced by yeasts
Does âWhenâ Really Feel More Certain than âIfâ?:Two failures to replicate Ballard and Lewandowsky (2015)
We report on two independent failures to replicate findings by Ballard and Lewandowsky (1), who showed that certainty in, and concern about, projected public health issues (e.g., impacts of climate change) depend on how uncertain information is presented. Specifically, compared to a projected range of outcomes (e.g., a global rise in temperature between 1.6 and 2.4 degrees C) by a certain point in time (the year 2065), Ballard and Lewandowsky (1) showed that focusing people on a certain outcome (a global rise in temperature of at least 2 degrees C) by an uncertain time-frame (the years 2054-2083) increases certainty in the outcome, and concern about its implications. Based on two new studies that showed a null effect between the two presentation formats, however, we recommend treating the projection-statements featured in these studies as equivalent, and we encourage investigators to find alternative ways to improve on existing formats to communicate uncertain information about future events
Does âWhenâ Really Feel More Certain than âIfâ?:Two failures to replicate Ballard and Lewandowsky (2015)
Effectiveness criteria for customised agricultural life cycle assessment tools
Greater use of life cycle assessment (LCA) by agents of change will be needed to inform environmental improvements in agriculture, but the complexity of LCA can be a barrier. More accessible LCA tools customised for agriculture are emerging, but their effectiveness has not been considered. The aim of the work was to understand how tool features influence effectiveness and to propose criteria for effectiveness, for informing the design and evaluation of tools. We define 'customised' tools as those that focus on the life cycle phases and aspects of most relevance for the particular sector (in this case agriculture), and that parameterise practice variables to enable evaluation of practice alternatives. A theoretical framework for the role of tools in agricultural practice change was first used to define the desired objectives of LCA tools: i) to engage agricultural agents of change by catering to their needs, being accessible and being easy to use, ii) to generate information that users can interpret for informing environmental improvements, and iii) to generate information that can align with the wider decision making context. A desktop review of 14 LCA customised agriculture tools identified the features that influence these objectives: tool purpose, mode of access, ease of use, results presentation, degree of practice parameterisation, capacity for regionalised analysis, system scope, impact categories assessed, and alignment with other assessment frameworks. From this, a set of effectiveness criteria for customised LCA tools was developed. A few criteria from amongst this set will be challenges for future tool development: the balance between analysis capacity and ease of use, enabling regionalised analysis, and the presentation of results in a way that aids interpretation for informing environmental improvements. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
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