Chapter 16 Volcanic hazard vulnerability on São Miguel Island, Azores

AbstractIn recent years much progress has been made in researching a wide variety of extreme events on São Miguel. In addition there are a number of volcano-related risks that impact upon the people of São Miguel. Some of these may occur both before and during volcanic emergencies (e.g. earthquakes), whilst others render São Miguel dangerous even when its volcanoes are not erupting (e.g. flooding, landslides, tsunamis and health impacts, especially the effects of CO2seepage into dwellings). In this chapter we first define what vulnerability means to the people of São Miguel, and relate this to the cultural and economic characteristics of the island. The following aspects of vulnerability are discussed: (a) physical (i.e. housing, settlement and the characteristics of evacuation routes and plans); (b) demographic and economic; and (c) social and cultural and perceptual (i.e. whether people have an accurate cognition of risk). Particular areas of concern relate to housing: the identification of isolated dwellings that would be difficult to evacuate; the vulnerability/resilience of evacuation routes following recent infrastructure improvements; characteristics of the island's transient population; management of livestock under emergency conditions; local leadership roles; and educational outreach.</jats:p

Tofacitinib versus Biologic Treatments in Moderate-to-Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Who Have Had an Inadequate Response to Nonbiologic DMARDs: Systematic Literature Review and Network Meta-Analysis

Objective. To compare the efficacy and tolerability of tofacitinib, an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as monotherapy and combined with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) versus biological DMARDs (bDMARDs) and other novel DMARDs for second-line moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients by means of a systematic literature review (SLR) and network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods. MEDLINE®, EMBASE®, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched to identify randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published between 1990 and March 2015. Efficacy data based on American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response criteria, improvements in the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) at 6 months, and discontinuation rates due to adverse events were analyzed by means of Bayesian NMAs. Results. 45 RCTs were identified, the majority of which demonstrated a low risk of bias. Tofacitinib 5 mg twice daily (BID) and 10 mg BID monotherapy exhibited comparable efficacy and discontinuation rates due to adverse events versus other monotherapies. Tofacitinib 5 mg BID and 10 mg BID + DMARDs or methotrexate (MTX) were mostly comparable to other combination therapies in terms of efficacy and discontinuation due to adverse events. Conclusion. In most cases, tofacitinib had similar efficacy and discontinuation rates due to adverse events compared to biologic DMARDs

Gaming with eutrophication: Contribution to integrating water quantity and quality management at catchment level

The Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo (MRSP) hosts 18 million inhabitants. A complex system of 23 interconnected reservoirs was built to ensure its water supply. Half of the potable water produced for MRSP's population (35 m3/s) is imported from a neighbour catchment, the other half is produced within the Alto Tietê catchment, where 99% of the population lives. Perimeters of land use restriction were defined to contain uncontrolled urbanization, as domestic effluents were causing increasing eutrophication of some of these reservoirs. In the 90's catchment committees and sub committees were created to promote discussion between stakeholders and develop catchment plans. The committees are very well structured "on paper". However, they are not very well organised and face a lack of experience. The objective of this work was to design tools that would strengthen their discussion capacities. The specific objective of the AguAloca process was to integrate the quality issue and its relation to catchment management as a whole in these discussions. The work was developed in the Alto Tietê Cabeceiras sub-catchment, one of the 5 sub catchments of the Alto-Tietê. It contains 5 interconnected dams, and presents competitive uses such as water supply, industry, effluent dilution and irrigated agriculture. A RPG was designed following a companion modelling approach (Etienne et al., 2003). It contains a friendly game-board, a set of individual and collective rules and a computerized biophysical model. The biophysical model is used to simulate water allocation and quality processes at catchment level. It articulates 3 modules. A simplified nutrient discharge model permits the estimation of land use nutrient exportation. An arc-node model simulates water flows and associated nutrient charges from one point of the hydrographical network to another. The Vollenweider model is used for simulating specific reservoir dynamics. The RPG allows players to make individual and collective decisions related to water allocation and the management of its quality. Impacts of these decisions are then simulated using the biophysical model. Specific indicators of the game are then updated and may influence player's behaviour (actions) in following rounds. To introduce discussions on the management of water quality at a catchment level, an issue that is rarely explicitly dealt with, four game sessions were implemented involving representatives of basin committees and water and sanitation engineers. During the game session, the participants took advantage of the water quality output of the biophysical model to test management alternatives such as rural sewage collection or effluent dilution. The biophysical model accelerated calculations of flows and eutrophication rates that were then returned to the game board with explicit indicators of quantity and quality. Players could easily test decisions impacting on qualitative water processes and visualize the simulation results directly on the game board that was representing a friendly, virtual and simplified catchment. The Agualoca game proved its ability to turn complex water processes understandable for a non totally initiated public. This experience contributed to a better understanding of multiple-use water management and also of joint management of water quality and quantity. (Résumé d'auteur

FCC testing at bench scale: New units, new processes, new feeds

As the FCC process has evolved over decades, several laboratory scale equipment have appeared to maintain a proper assessment of catalysts activity. Several laboratory equipments are available for simulating the FCC process, from the well known fixed bed, MicroActivity Test to newer, fluid bed or transported bed units. As well, a number of units have been created to simulate other parts of the process such as regenerator or stripper, The increased pressure for treating non-conventional feeds, from reprocessing gasoline to extra-heavy feeds or oils produced from biomass containing large amounts of heteroatoms, increase the needs to have a laboratory test which is as close as possible to the process so that data extraction from the laboratory test are simplified, thus less prone to errors or misunderstanding.Financial support by MICINN (Consolider-Ingenio 2010 MULTICAT) and MINECO (Project MAT2011-29020-0O2-02 and Subprogram for excellence Severo Ochoa, SEV 2012 0267) is gratefully acknowledged.Corma Canós, A.; Sauvanaud, LL. (2013). FCC testing at bench scale: New units, new processes, new feeds. Catalysis Today. 218-219:107-114. doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2013.03.038S107114218-21

Managing Agroecosystems for Soil Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency: Ecological Unknowns, Potential Outcomes, and a Path Forward

Agricultural systems are increasingly managed for improving soil carbon (C) accumulation. However, there are limits to C returns in agricultural systems that constrain soil C accumulation capacity. Increasing the efficiency of how soil microbes process C is gaining interest as an important management strategy for increasing soil C and is a key feature of soil C dynamics in many new microbial-explicit models. A higher microbial C use efficiency (CUE) may increase C storage while reducing C system losses and is a fundamental trait affecting community assembly dynamics and nutrient cycling. However, the numerous ecological unknowns influencing CUE limit our ability to effectively manage CUE in agricultural soils for greater soil C storage. In this perspective, we consider three complex drivers of agroecosystem CUE that need to be resolved to develop effective C sequestration management practices in the future: (1) the environment as an individual trait moderator versus a filter, (2) microbial community competitive and faciliatory interactions, and (3) spatiotemporal dynamics through the soil profile and across the microbial lifecycle. We highlight ways that amendments, crop rotations, and tillage practices might affect microbial CUE conditions and the variable outcomes of these practices. We argue that to resolve some of the unknowns of CUE dynamics, we need to include more mechanistic, trait-based approaches that capitalize on advanced methods and innovative field research designs within an agroecosystem-specific context. By identifying the management-level determinants of CUE expression, we will be better positioned to optimize CUE to increase soil C storage in agricultural systems

Excited State Dynamics of Bistridentate and Trisbidentate RuII Complexes of Quinoline-Pyrazole Ligands

Three homoleptic ruthenium(II) complexes, [Ru(Q3PzH)3]2+, [Ru(Q1Pz)3]2+, and [Ru(DQPz)2]2+, based on the quinoline-pyrazole ligands, Q3PzH (8-(3-pyrazole)-quinoline), Q1Pz (8-(1-pyrazole)-quinoline), and DQPz (bis(quinolinyl)-1,3-pyrazole), have been spectroscopically and theoretically investigated. Spectral component analysis, transient absorption spectroscopy, density functional theory calculations, and ligand exchange reactions with different chlorination agents reveal that the excited state dynamics for Ru(II) complexes with these biheteroaromatic ligands differ significantly from that of traditional polypyridyl complexes. Despite the high energy and low reorganization energy of the excited state, nonradiative decay dominates even at liquid nitrogen temperatures, where triplet metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer emission quantum yields range from 0.7 to 3.8%, and microsecond excited state lifetimes are observed. In contrast to traditional polypyridyl complexes where ligand exchange is facilitated by expansion of the metal-ligand bonds to stabilize a metal-centered state, photoinduced ligand exchange occurs in the bidentate complexes despite no substantial MC state population, while the tridentate complex is extremely photostable despite an activated decay route, highlighting the versatile photochemistry of nonpolypyridine ligands.\ua0\ua9 2019 American Chemical Society

Origins of the term nuées ardentes and the 1580 and 1808 eruptions of São Jorge Island, Azores

In this paper we: provide a brief account of the 1580 and 1808 eruptions on São Jorge in the Azores, which produced Pyroclastic Density Currents (PDCs); discuss the first recorded use of the term nuées ardentes to describe these PDCs; trace how this term was introduced into the scientific literature and discuss its adoption by Alfred Lacroix (1863-1948) to describe the 'glowing clouds' produced by Mt. Pelée (Martinique) in 1902. The 1580 and 1808 eruptions on São Jorge are important because they provide early descriptions of PDCs. Documentary evidence of the eruptions and their impacts suggest that the 1580 PDC was a hotter flow, whereas the 1808 PDCs were cooler and more moist. Contemporary accounts describe the 1580 PDC as a 'globe of fire', mixed with 'caustic smoke' and moving at speed towards the bottom of the slope. In contrast, the 1808 PDCs comprised humid ash, were not incandescent and it is likely that the flows were cooler than that produced in 1580. Since the eruption of Mt. Pelée in 1902, it has been widely accepted that the term nuées ardentes was introduced by Lacroix (1904), being based on his description of the pyroclastic flows that he witnessed. Lacroix acknowledges that the Portuguese expression, ardente nuvem was first used in contemporary accounts of the São Jorge PDCs. This was first translated as nuée ardente and introduced into the scientific by the French geologist Ferdinand Fouqué (1828-1904), who was also Lacroix's father-in-law. Indeed, Lacroix provides an account of the 1580 and 1808 eruptions of São Jorge in his 1904 work La Montagne Pelée et ses Éruptions. The seminal work of Frank Alvord Perret (1867-1943) on the 1929-32 eruptions of Mt. Pelée and his description of nuées ardentes probably helped reinforce the association between the term and Mt. Pelée