Consistent avoidance of human disturbance over large geographical distances by a migratory bird

Recent work on animal personalities has demonstrated that individuals may show consistent behaviour across situations and contexts. These studies were often carried out in one location and/or during short time intervals. Many animals, however, migrate and spend their life in several geographically distinct locations, and they may either adopt behaviours specific to the local environment or keep consistent behaviours over ecologically distinct locations. Long-distance migratory species offer excellent opportunities to test whether the animals maintain their personalities over large geographical scale, although the practical difficulties associated with these studies have hampered such tests. Here, we demonstrate for the first time consistency in disturbance tolerance behaviour in a long-distance migratory bird, using the common crane Grus grus as an ecological model species. Cranes that hatched in undisturbed habitats in Finland choose undisturbed migratory stop-over sites in Hungary, 1300–2000 km away from their breeding ground. This is remarkable, because these sites are not only separated by large distances, they also differ ecologically: the breeding sites are wooded bogs and subarctic tundra, whereas the migratory stop-over sites are temperate zone alkaline grasslands. The significance of our study goes beyond evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology: local effects on behaviour may carry over large distances, and this hitherto hidden implication of habitat selection needs to be incorporated into conservation planning

Signaling Virtue or Vulnerability? The Changing Impact of Exchange Rate Regimes on Government Bond Yields

Do exchange rate regimes affect the conditions under which developed countries borrow? This paper argues that they do, but their impact on yields depends on the prevailing macroeconomic context. When investors regard inflation as the most relevant risk to bond holdings, monetary union has a distinct advantage over floating and fixed exchange rates because of its credible in-built mechanism to control inflation. However, once default is seen as the most relevant risk, exchange rate rigidity becomes a liability due to its constraining effect on governments’ ability to respond to adverse shocks. We test our argument with a moving window panel analysis for twenty-three OECD countries from 1980 to 2017. We find that before the late 2000s, inflation was penalized under floating and (to a lesser extent) fixed exchange rate regimes, but not in countries in monetary union. Since the 2010s, inflation carries no penalty under any exchange rate regime. Variables linked to default risk (debt and entitlement spending) did not affect yields under any exchange rate arrangements until the mid-2000s. Afterwards, countries in monetary union (and to a lesser extent in fixed exchange rate regimes) were significantly penalized for public debt and entitlement spending, whereas countries with floating regimes were not. Our results speak to the literatures on governments’ institutional commitments and “room to move.”Haben Wechselkursregime einen Einfluss auf die Konditionen, zu denen entwickelte Länder Staatsanleihen ausgeben können? Wir argumentieren in diesem Beitrag, dass dies der Fall ist, wobei ihre Wirkung auf die Anleiherenditen vom vorherrschenden makroökonomischen Kontext abhängt. Erachten Investoren Inflation als das entscheidende Risiko für Investitionen in Anleihen, so hat eine Währungsunion durch ihren glaubwürdigen inte­grierten Mechanismus zur Inflationskontrolle klare Vorteile gegenüber flexiblen und festen Wechselkursen. Wird jedoch ein Ausfall der Rückzahlungen als das entscheidende Risiko angesehen, werden starre Wechselkurse zum Nachteil, da sie die Fähigkeit von Regierungen, auf negative Schocks zu reagieren, verringern. Wir testen unser Argument mithilfe einer für den Zeitraum von 1980 bis 2017 mit gleitenden Zeitfenstern durchgeführten Panelana­lyse von 23 OECD-Ländern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Inflation vor den späten 2000er-Jahren in flexiblen und (weniger stark) in festen Wechselkursregimen finanziell abgestraft wurde, jedoch nicht in den Ländern einer Währungsunion. Seit den 2010er-Jahren wirkt sich Inflation in keinem der Wechselkursregime auf die Renditen aus. Mit dem Ausfallri­siko verknüpfte Variablen (Staatsverschuldung und Sozialausgaben) hatten bis zur Mitte der 2000er-Jahre in keinem der Wechselkursregime einen Einfluss auf die Renditen. Danach wurden Länder in einer Währungsunion erheblich (und Länder in festen Wechselkursregimen weniger stark) für Staatsverschuldung und Sozialausgaben abgestraft, während dies bei Ländern in flexiblen Regimen nicht der Fall war. Unsere Ergebnisse tragen zur Literatur über institutionelle Selbstverpflichtungen und Handlungsspielräume von Regierungen bei.Contents 1 Introduction 2 Commitment devices and policy autonomy from a theoretical perspective 3 Inflation risk, default risk, and exchange rate regimes: An analysis of twenty-three OECD countries 4 Results section Results Robustness checks 5 Discussion and conclusion Appendix A Sources used for identifying sample countries’ exchange rate regimes over time Appendix B Results controlling for capital mobility (measured via the Chinn-Ito capital account openness index) Appendix C Results excluding countries with a greater share of foreign currency-denominated debt than 2 percent (Canada and Sweden) Appendix D Results for crawling peg exchange rate regime Appendix E Results excluding heavily indebted EMU countries (Belgium, Greece, and Italy) Appendix F Results excluding EMU countries with the lowest sovereign credit ratings prior to the crisis (Greece, Italy, and Portugal) Reference

Integrated Process of Arabinose Biopurification and Xylitol Fermentation Based on the Diverse Action of Candida boidinii

Hemicellulosic hydrolysates of agro-residues are promising raw materials for xylitol and arabinose production through biotechnological methods. Two-step acidic fractionation of corn fibre was developed to produce a glucose- and arabinose-rich hydrolysate and a xylose-rich hydrolysate. An integrated process of arabinose biopurification on the glucose- and arabinose-rich hydrolysate and xylitol fermentation on the xylose-rich hydrolysate using Candida boidinii NCAIM Y.01308 was introduced, in which cell mass produced in arabinose biopurification was used as inoculum in the xylitol fermentation. Aerobic biopurification resulted in an arabinose solution containing 9.2 g L–1 of arabinose with a purity of 90 %, based on total sugars. Xylitol fermentation under microaerobic conditions resulted in a xylitol yield of 53 % of theoretical and a xylitol concentration of 10.4 g L–1 in three days. Hence, an integrated biorefinery process of hemicellulosic hydrolysates was developed based on the diverse action of C. boidinii to purify arabinose and produce xylitol

Physical and Biophysical Pretreatment of Water Hyacinth Biomass for Cellulase Enzyme Production

One practical way to control water hyacinth overgrowth due to eutrophication is by utilizing it as a substrate to produce cellulase. Water hyacinth was subjected to pretreatment to degrade lignin and improve microbes’ accessibility to cellulose. Physical and biophysical pretreatment methods were investigated. Biomass size reduction was performed in the physical pretreatment whereas white rot fungus (Ganoderma boninense) was used in the biophysical pretreatment. Cellulase-producing fungi, Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei, were exploited in this study. Although lignin content was reduced by two-fold after the biophysical pretreatment, the maximum production of cellulase occurred when only the physical pretreatment was employed on the substrate. It may be because the higher apparent crystallinity of cellulose in physical pretreatment triggers more cellulase production compared to that in biophysical pretreatment. The maximum cellulase activity was found to be 1.035 IU mL–1 when water hyacinth was only physically pretreated

Feather growth rate and mass in nearctic passerines with variablemigratory behavior and molt pattern

Bird species vary greatly in the duration of their annual complete feather molt. However, such variation is not well documented in birds from many biogeographic areas, which restricts our understanding of the diversification of molt strategies. Recent research has revealed that molt duration can be estimated in passerines from ptilochronology-based measurements of the growth rate of their tail feathers. We used this approach to explore how molt duration varied in 98 Nearctic species that have different migratory strategies and molt patterns. As previously documented for Palearctic species, migration was associated with a shortening of molt duration among species that molted during summer on their breeding range. However, molts of winter-molting migratory species were as long as those of summer-molting sedentary species, which suggests that winter molt also allows Nearctic migrants to avoid the temporal constraints experienced during summer. Our results also suggest that migratory species that undergo a stopover molt within the Mexican monsoon region have the shortest molt duration among all Nearctic passerines. Interestingly, and contrary to expectations from a potential tradeoff between molt duration and feather quality, observed variation in feather growth rate was positively correlated with differences in tail feather mass, which may be caused by differences among groups in the availability of resources for molting. We encourage the use of similar approaches to study the variation in molt duration in other geographic areas where knowledge of the evolution of molt is limited.

Utilization of the Net Heat Process Tail Gases in the Reactor for the Production of Oil-Furnace Carbon Black

Otpadni procesni plinovi niske donje toplinske vrijednosti koji nastaju kao sporedni proizvod industrijske proizvodnje uljno-pećnih čađa mogu se energetski učinkovito iskoristiti prije konačnog ispuštanja u atmosferu. Osim što se upotrebljavaju za sušenje mokro granulirane uljno-pećne čađe, proizvodnju pare i električne energije te se spaljuju na baklji, učinkovito se mogu iskoristiti i kao zamjena goriva u reaktorima za proizvodnju uljno-pećnih čađa uz povećanje iskorištenja ugljikovodične sirovine. U radu je prikazano tehnološko-tehničko rješenje iskorištenja topline otpadnih procesnih plinova niske donje toplinske vrijednosti u reaktoru za proizvodnju "tvrdih" tipova uljno-pećnih čađa uz povećanje iskorištenja ugljikovodične sirovine. Uvođenje predgrijanih procesnih otpadnih plinova niske donje toplinske vrijednosti u reaktor za proizvodnju "tvrdih" tipova uljno-pećnih čađa ostvareno je serijskim spajanjem četiriju ventilatora. Sustav je izveden pomoću ventilatora predviđenih za pneumatski transport smjese uljno-pećne čađe u prahu i otpadnih procesnih plinova. Navedenom izvedbom osiguran je stabilan tehnološki proces uvođenja otpadnih procesnih plinova niske donje toplinske vrijednosti u reakcijsku zonu sagorijevanja prirodnog plina u predgrijanom zraku. Prilikom proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe N220 pokazano je da se upotrebom otpadnih procesnih plinova niske donje toplinske vrijednosti u količini Q od 1000 do 2000 m3 h-1 po reaktoru ostvaruje ušteda prirodnog plina od 10 do 20 %,uz istodobno povećanje iskorištenja ugljikovodične sirovine od 7 do 9%.Tail gases of low calorific value, which are the by-product of oil-furnace carbon black industrial production, can be efficiently used as energy before their final release into the atmosphere. Apart from being used mainly for heating dryers, production of steam, electricity, or flared, they can also be used as a substitute for fuel in the reactor for the production of oil-furnace carbon blacks, thus increasing the efficiency of the hydrocarbon raw feedstock. This technical paper represents the technical-technological solution for applying the waste heat of the low calorific tail gases in the reactor for the production of "hard" grade oil-furnace carbon blacks with savings of the hydrocarbon raw feedstock. The introduction of the preheated low calorific tail gases in the reactor for the production of "hard" grade oil-furnace carbon blacks is achieved by serial cascading of four fans. The system consists of fans designed to pneumatically transport the mixture of process tail gases and oil-furnace carbon black dust particles. This ensures a stable technological process for the introduction of the low calorific process tail gases into the reaction zone where the natural gas and preheated air are combusted. In the production of oil-furnace carbon black N220, it is shown that by using low calorific process tail gases in the amount from 1000 to 2000 m3 h–1 per reactor, savings from 10 to 20 % of natural gas and simultaneously 7 to 9 % of the hydrocarbon raw feedstoks were achieved

Thermal Oxidation of Tail Gases from the Production of Oil-furnace Carbon Black

U radu je prikazana tehnologija proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe i odabrano tehnološko rješenje u funkciji zaštite zraka. Prilikom industrijskog procesa proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe osim glavnog proizvoda, kao sporedni proizvodi nastaju i otpadni procesni plinovi. Otpadni procesni plinovi nastali prilikom industrijskog procesa proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe po kvalitativnom sastavu sastoje se od: ugljikovog (IV) oksida, ugljikovog(II) oksida, vodika, metana, sumporovodika, dušika, kisika i vodene pare. Ovisno o vrsti uljne sirovine za proizvodnju te samom proizvodnom tipu uljno pećne-čađe mijenja se kvantitativan sastav i donja kalorična vrijednost otpadnih procesnih plinova. Donja kalorična vrijednost otpadnih procesnih plinova relativno je mala i nalazi se u području od 1500 do 2300 kJ m–3. U konvencionalnom procesu proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe pročišćeni otpadni procesni plinovi od čestica čađe ispuštaju se u atmosferu bez ikakve dodatne obrade. Na taj način otpadni procesni plinovi zagađuju atmosferu, jer njihove kvantitativne vrijednosti višestruko premašuju dopuštene granice emisije za sumporovodik i ugljikov(II) oksid, čime se znatno narušava kvaliteta lokalnog zraka grada Kutine. Logično tehnološko rješenje sprječavanja zagađivanja zraka je spaljivanje otpadnih procesnih plinova, odnosno njihova termalna oksidacija. Kao sredstvo za termalnu oksidaciju otpadnih procesnih plinova odabrana je posebno dizajnirana izvedba baklje. Sustav baklje dizajniran je tako da omogućuje termalnu oksidaciju otpadnih procesnih plinova male kalorične vrijednosti s 99%-tnom djelotvornošću uz minimalnu potrošnju prirodnog plina potrebnog za oksidaciju. Na taj način se štetne i zapaljive komponente (sumporovodik, vodik, ugljikov (II) oksid te metan i ostali ugljikovodici u tragovima) prevode u kvalitativno-kvantitativan ekološki prihvatljivij sastav otpadnih procesnih plinova (sumporov(IV) oksid, vodena para, ugljikov (IV) oksid, dušikov(IV) oksid), koji udovoljavaju propisanim graničnim vrijednostima emisije i kakvoće zraka (Uredbe NN 133/2005. i NN 21/2007.) Ispravnim tehnološkim radom sustava baklji u industrijskom postrojenju proizvodnje uljno-pećne čađe ostvareno je rješavanje problema onečišćavanja zraka grada Kutine, posebno prizemnih masenih koncentracija sumporovodika. Usporedo s razvojem sustava baklji uspostavlja se i sustav kontinuiranog praćenja onečišćujućih tvari u zrak (sumporovodik i ugljikov(II) oksid) te njegovo povezivanje s Agencijom za zaštitu okoliša.This paper describes the production technology of oil-furnace carbon black, as well as the selected solution for preventing the emissions of this process from contaminating the environment. The products of industrial oil-furnace carbon black production are different grades of carbon black and process tail gases. The qualitative composition of these tail gases during the production of oil-furnace carbon black are: carbon(IV) oxide, carbon(II) oxide, hydrogen, methane, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor. The quantitative composition and lower caloric value of process tail gases change depending on the type of feedstock used in the production, as well as the type of process. The lower caloric value of process tail gases is relatively small with values ranging between 1500 and 2300 kJ m–3. In the conventional production of oil-furnace carbon black, process tail gases purified from carbon black dust are freely released into the atmosphere untreated. In this manner, the process tail gases pollute the air in the town of Kutina, because their quantitative values are much higher than the prescribed emissions limits for hydrogen sulfide and carbon(II) oxide. A logical solution for the prevention of such air pollution is combustion of the process tail gases, i. e. their thermal oxidation. For this purpose, a specially designed flare system has been developed. Consuming minimum amounts of natural gas needed for oxidation, the flare system is designed to combust low caloric process tail gases with 99 % efficiency. Thus, the toxic and flammable components of the tail gases (hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, carbon(II) oxide, methane and other trace hydrocarbons) would be transformed into environmentally acceptable components (sulfur(IV) oxide, water, carbon(IV) oxide and nitrogen(IV) oxide), which are in compliance with the emissions limit values prescribed by law. Proper operation of this flare system in the production of oil-furnace carbon black would solve the air pollution problem in the town of Kutina, especially the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide in the troposphere. Together with the development of this flare system, a continuous air-pollutant (hydrogen sulfide and carbon(II) oxide) monitoring system shall be established and linked with the Environmental Protection Agency

Filtration of Oil-furnace Carbon Black Dust Particles from the Tail Gases by Filter Bags With PTFE Membrane

Prilikom industrijskog procesa proizvodnje uljno-pećnih čađa u zrak se emitiraju otpadni procesni plinovi koji uz plinovite onečišćujuće tvari sadrže i čestice prašine uljno-pećnih čađa. Na postrojenju za proizvodnju uljno-pećne čađe Petrokemije d. d. postoji šest ispusta otpadnih procesnih plinova u zrak. Prije svakog ispusta postavljena je procesna oprema za filtriranje otpadnih procesnih plinova. Učinkovitost filtriranja ponajprije ovisi o konstrukcijskoj izvedbi opreme te odabranoj tehnologiji filtriranja. Blizina naselja, kakvoća zraka kutinskog područja s obzirom na lebdeće čestice PM10 i obveza tvrtke za stalnim unapređenjem stanja okoliša nameću potrebu pronalaženja sve boljih mjera smanjenja emisija čestica prašine uljno-pećnih čađa u zrak. Zbog toga je dizajniran poseban ciklofiltar za filtriranje čestica prašine uljno-pećnih čađa od otpadnih procesnih plinova uz primjenu filtar-vreća s PTFE-membranom (politetrafluoretilen). Posebna konstrukcija ciklofiltra ostvarena je kombinacijom centrifugalnog taložnika i vrećastog filtra "pulse- jet". Kombinacijom dviju tehnika filtriranja čestica prašine uljno-pećnih čađa od otpadnih procesnih plinova osigurava se maksimalna učinkovitost filtriranja od η = 99,9 %. U konstrukcijskom dijelu vrećastog filtra upotrebljavaju se filtar-vreće najnovije generacije s ugrađenim PTFE membranama, koje se naknadno čiste pomoću stlačenog zraka. Tehnologija filtriranja pomoću PTFE-membrana osigurava učinkovitost filtriranja od maksimalno γ = 5 mg m-3 čestica prašine uljno-pećnih čađa u pročišćenim izlaznim otpadnim procesnim plinovima. Učinkovitost filtriranja prati se kontinuiranim mjerenjem emisije čestica prašine uljno-pećnih čađa u pročišćenim izlaznim otpadnim procesnim plinovima putem automatskog neekstraktivnog uređaja. Ostvarena tehnologija filtriranja poslužit će kao osnova za ugradnju filtar-vreća s PTFE-membranom u glavne operacijske filtre, čime će se osigurati poboljšana zaštita zraka grada Kutine s obzirom na lebdeće čestice PM10.During the industrial production of oil furnace carbon black, tail gases containing oil-furnace carbon black dust particles are emitted to the atmosphere. In the carbon black plant, Petrokemija d. d., there are six exhaust stacks for tail gases. Each of them has installed process equipment for cleaning tail gases. Efficiency of cleaning mainly depends on equipment construction and cleaning technology. The vicinity of the town, quality of the air in the region of Kutina, regarding floating particles PM10, and corporate responsibility for further enviromental improvement, imposes development of new methods that will decrease the emmision of oil-furnace carbon black dust particles in the air. Combining centrifugal percipitator and filter, special construction of cyclofilter for filtration of oil-furnace carbon black dust particles from tail gases by using PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) membrane filter bags, was designed. Developed filtration technique provides η = 99.9 % efficiency of filtration. Construction part of the filter contains the newest generation of PTFE membrane filter bags with the ability of jet pulse cleaning. Using the PTFE membrane filter bags technology, filtration efficiency for oil-furnace carbon black dust particles in tail gases of maximum γ=5mgm-3 can be achieved. The filtration efficiency was monitored continuously measuring the concentration of the oil-furnace carbon black dust particles in the tail gases with the help of in situ electronic probe. The accomplished filtration technology is the base for the installation of the PTFE membrane filter bags in the main operation filters which will provide better protection of the air in the town of Kutina against floating particles PM10

Refining Hemp Hurds into Fermentable Sugars or Ethanol

Steam pretreatment is one of the most efficient pretreatment technologies employed prior to enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosics to obtain high polysaccharide conversion. In this study, steam pretreatment of non-impregnated hemp hurds was investigated at two reactor scales (2 and 10 L) by varying the temperature from 200–230 °C. Glucan recoveries were relatively high (> 82 % of original content), while xylan recoveries ranged from 18–66 % of original. Conversions of glucan and xylan in enzymatic hydrolysis varied between X = 62–83 % and 46–96 %, respectively, based on glucan and xylan contents of the substrate. Ethanol yields in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation ranged from Y = 38–70 %, based on glucan and mannan contents of the substrate. The highest overall glucose yield was 336 g kg–1 dry hurds obtained at 210 °C, whereas the maximum sugar yield (glucose + xylose), 414 g kg–1 dry hurds, was achieved at 200 °C. The highest ethanol yield, 141 g kg–1 dry hurds, was obtained at 210 °C