Ecosystem services in German infrastructure planning - a case study of the projected Lower Weser deepening

We study the incorporation of ecosystem services in German water infrastructure planning exemplified by a projected deepening of the Lower Weser river channel. Therefore, we recalculate the project’s benefit-cost ratio by integrating the monetary value of changes in different ecosystem services: i) the restoration costs of a planned mitigation measure for a loss in fresh water supply for agricultural production in the estuary, ii) costs of loss in habitat services by transferring the willingness to pay between a contingent valuation study to the area assessed in the environmental impact assessment, and iii) the benefits of emission savings induced by more efficient shipping taking a marginal abatement cost approach. We find that the inclusion of monetary values for ecosystem service changes leads to a substantial drop in the benefit-cost ratio and consequently argue for a reform of the standard to facilitate more complete welfare assessments

The role of the ecological fiscal transfers for water conservation policies

The purpose of this chapter is to fill the lacuna found in the literature with regard to describing the role of EFTs for water conservation policies. The literature tells us that ecological fiscal transfers (EFTs) are analysed so to pursue biodiversity conservation policies and solid waste management (SWM). For biodiversity conservation policies, EFTs have two purposes: (1) to incentivize municipalities to create local protected areas (PA); and (2) to compensate municipalities for corresponding land-use restrictions. In the case of SWM, the main idea is that, even considering the fees paid by the households, it is still costly to maintain waste services in the municipal territories. In this context, EFTs are appealing policy instrument to help local governments create landfills or composting plants. However, in Brazil EFTs are functioning as a policy instrument which also includes a wide range of policy domains, such as water conservation, indigenous land, fire-control, and so on. Six states adopted EFTs specifically for water conservation policies: Goiás, Paraná, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, and Tocantins. Descriptive analyses, focusing on legislative differences are conducted for each of these states.(undefined

Evolutionary design of a full-envelope full-authority flight control system for an unstable high-performance aircraft

The use of an evolutionary algorithm in the framework of H1 control theory is being considered as a means for synthesizing controller gains that minimize a weighted combination of the infinite norm of the sensitivity function (for disturbance attenuation requirements) and complementary sensitivity function (for robust stability requirements) at the same time. The case study deals with a complete full-authority longitudinal control system for an unstable high-performance jet aircraft featuring (i) a stability and control augmentation system and (ii) autopilot functions (speed and altitude hold). Constraints on closed-loop response are enforced, that representing typical requirements on airplane handling qualities, that makes the control law synthesis process more demanding. Gain scheduling is required, in order to obtain satisfactory performance over the whole flight envelope, so that the synthesis is performed at different reference trim conditions, for several values of the dynamic pressure, used as the scheduling parameter. Nonetheless, the dynamic behaviour of the aircraft may exhibit significant variations when flying at different altitudes, even for the same value of the dynamic pressure, so that a trade-off is required between different feasible controllers synthesized at different altitudes for a given equivalent airspeed. A multiobjective search is thus considered for the determination of the best suited solution to be introduced in the scheduling of the control law. The obtained results are then tested on a longitudinal non-linear model of the aircraft

Optical Frequency Comb Generation based on Erbium Fiber Lasers

Citation: Droste, S., Ycas, G., Washburn, B. R., Coddington, I., & Newbury, N. R. (2016). Optical Frequency Comb Generation based on Erbium Fiber Lasers. Nanophotonics, 5(2), 196-213. doi:10.1515/nanoph-2016-0019Optical frequency combs have revolutionized optical frequency metrology and are being actively investigated in a number of applications outside of pure optical frequency metrology. For reasons of cost, robustness, performance, and flexibility, the erbium fiber laser frequency comb has emerged as the most commonly used frequency comb system and many different designs of erbium fiber frequency combs have been demonstrated. We review the different approaches taken in the design of erbium fiber frequency combs, including the major building blocks of the underlying mode-locked laser, amplifier, supercontinuum generation and actuators for stabilization of the frequency comb

Green, circular, bio economy : A comparative analysis of sustainability avenues

Despite their evidently different assumptions and operationalization strategies, the concepts of Circular Economy, Green Economy and Bioeconomy are joined by the common ideal to reconcile economic, environmental and social goals. The three concepts are currently mainstreamed in academia and policy making as key sustainability avenues, but a comparative analysis of such concepts is missing. The aim of this article is thus to comprehensively analyse the diversity within and between such concepts. The results are drawn from a bibliometric review of almost two thousand scientific articles published within the last three decades, coupled with a conceptual analysis. We find that, for what concerns environmental sustainability, Green Economy acts as an 'umbrella' concept, including elements from Circular Economy and Bioeconomy concepts (e.g. eco-efficiency; renewables), as well as additional ideas, e.g. nature-based solutions. In particular, Circular Economy and Bioeconomy are resource-focused, whereas in principle Green Economy acknowledges the underpinning role of all ecological processes. Regarding the social dimension, Green Economy is more inclusive of some aspects at local level (e.g. eco-tourism, education), while there is an emerging discussion in Bioeconomy literature around local processes in terms of biosecurity and rural policies. When considering weak/strong sustainability visions, all concepts remain limited in questioning economic growth. By comparing the different sustainability strategies promoted by these concepts we do not advocate for their substitutability, but for their clarification and reciprocal integration. The findings are discussed in light of the concepts' synergies and limits, with the purpose to inform research and policy implementation. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

A guided tour of asynchronous cellular automata

Research on asynchronous cellular automata has received a great amount of attention these last years and has turned to a thriving field. We survey the recent research that has been carried out on this topic and present a wide state of the art where computing and modelling issues are both represented.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Cellular Automat

Potential for the psychrophilic anaerobic treatment of swine manure using a sequencing batch reactor

. 1997. Potential for the psychrophilic anaerobic treatment of swine manure using a sequencing batch reactor. Can. Agric. Eng. 39:025-034. The feasibility of psychrophilic anaerobic digestion (PAD) in intermittently fed sequencing batch reactors (SBR) was investigated during the start-up run of an ongoing laboratory study. The start-up run results indicated that PAD in SBRs was efficient in stabilizing and deodorizing swine manure slurry. The digester effluents had little odour when compared to the raw manure. Total chemical oxygen demand (COD) was reduced by 58 to 73% and soluble COD (SCOD) by 85 to 96%. Methane production varied from 0.30 to 0.66 L CH4/g volatile solids added and methane concentration in the biogas ranged from 50 to 80%. The biog<ls production rate continued to increase even when concentrations of acetic acid and ammonia nitrogen were as high as 5500 mg/L and 3700 mg/L, respectively. Keywords: anaerobic digestion, swine manure, biogas, manure treatment, psychrophilic process, anaerobic treatment. Cet article presente les resultats preliminaires du projet d'etude sur la digestion anaerobie en condition psychrophile dans un bioreacteur it operation sequentielle. Les resultats experimentaux ont demontre que cette nouvelle technologie desodorise et stabilise Ie lisier de porco Le lisier traite est presque inodore comparativement au lisier de porc brut: La demande chimique en oxygene totale a ele reduite de 58 it 73%. La demande en oxygene chimique soluble a subit une forte diminution variant de 85 it 96%. La production de methane etait de 0.30 it 0.66 litre de CH4 par gramme de solides volatiles alimentes aux bio-reacteurs. La concentration du methane dans Ie biogaz variait entre 50 et 80%. Ce procede est tres stable, il n'est pas affecte par des concentrations elevees d'acide acetique (5500 mg/l) et ammoniac (3700 mg/l)

Short-term changes in nightlife attendance and patron intoxication following alcohol restrictions in Queensland, Australia

Background: This study aims to explore short-term changes following the introduction of alcohol restrictions (most notably 2 am to 3 am last drinks). We examined patterns of nightlife attendance, intoxication, and alcohol use among patrons shortly before and after restrictions were introduced in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane: the largest nighttime entertainment precinct of Queensland. Methods: Street-intercept patron interviews were conducted in Fortitude Valley in June (n = 497) and July (n = 562) 2016. A pre-post design was used to assess changes in time spent out drinking/partying prior to the interview, time of arrival in the precinct, pre-drinking, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Results: Regression models indicated that after the policy introduction, the proportion of people arriving at Fortitude Valley before 10:00 pm increased (OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.82). Participants reported going out, on average, one hour earlier after the intervention (β = − 0.17; 95% CI = 0.11, 0.22). There was a decrease (RRR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.43, 0.79) in the proportion of participants who had a high level of intoxication (BAC ≥0.10 g/dL) postintervention. No other significant differences were found. Conclusions: Earlier cessation of alcohol sales and stopping the sale of rapid intoxication drinks after midnight was associated with people arriving in Fortitude Valley earlier. Though legislative loopholes allowed some venues to continue trading to 5 am, the proportion of people in the precinct who were highly intoxicated decreased after the restriction. Further measurement will be required to determine whether the reduction has persisted

Languages ordered by the subword order

We consider a language together with the subword relation, the cover relation, and regular predicates. For such structures, we consider the extension of first-order logic by threshold- and modulo-counting quantifiers. Depending on the language, the used predicates, and the fragment of the logic, we determine four new combinations that yield decidable theories. These results extend earlier ones where only the language of all words without the cover relation and fragments of first-order logic were considered