ATTITUDES AND HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING SOLID WASTE GENERATION: A HOUSEHOLD GARBAGE ANALYSIS

A survey of household decision-makers and an analysis of their garbage was used to suggest factors affecting the weight of household contributions to municipal solid waste. Iterative regression was used to build a model from the data that is hypothesized to explain garbage weight. Food expenditure, environmental attitude, consumption of soft drinks in plastic bottles, and cats in the household were significant for all households. Self-sufficiency and energy-conscious behavioral scales also affected the subgroup with female householders having an educational level of high school graduation or less.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Geoids in General Relativity: Geoid Quasilocal Frames

We develop, in the context of general relativity, the notion of a geoid -- a surface of constant "gravitational potential". In particular, we show how this idea naturally emerges as a specific choice of a previously proposed, more general and operationally useful construction called a quasilocal frame -- that is, a choice of a two-parameter family of timelike worldlines comprising the worldtube boundary of the history of a finite spatial volume. We study the geometric properties of these geoid quasilocal frames, and construct solutions for them in some simple spacetimes. We then compare these results -- focusing on the computationally tractable scenario of a non-rotating body with a quadrupole perturbation -- against their counterparts in Newtonian gravity (the setting for current applications of the geoid), and we compute general-relativistic corrections to some measurable geometric quantities.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures; v2: reference added; v3: introduction clarified, reference adde

Quasilocal Conservation Laws: Why We Need Them

We argue that conservation laws based on the local matter-only stress-energy-momentum tensor (characterized by energy and momentum per unit volume) cannot adequately explain a wide variety of even very simple physical phenomena because they fail to properly account for gravitational effects. We construct a general quasi}local conservation law based on the Brown and York total (matter plus gravity) stress-energy-momentum tensor (characterized by energy and momentum per unit area), and argue that it does properly account for gravitational effects. As a simple example of the explanatory power of this quasilocal approach, consider that, when we accelerate toward a freely-floating massive object, the kinetic energy of that object increases (relative to our frame). But how, exactly, does the object acquire this increasing kinetic energy? Using the energy form of our quasilocal conservation law, we can see precisely the actual mechanism by which the kinetic energy increases: It is due to a bona fide gravitational energy flux that is exactly analogous to the electromagnetic Poynting flux, and involves the general relativistic effect of frame dragging caused by the object's motion relative to us.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Lithium motion in the anode material LiC6 as seen via time-domain 7Li NMR

Since the commercialization of rechargeable lithium-ion energy storage systems in the early 1990s, graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) have served as the number one negative electrode material in most of today's batteries. During charging the performance of a battery is closely tied with facile Li insertion into the graphite host structure. So far, only occasionally time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements have been reported to study Li self-diffusion parameters in GICs. Here, we used several NMR techniques to enlighten Li hopping motions from an atomic-scale point of view. Li self-diffusion in the stage-1 GIC LiC6 has been studied comparatively by temperature-variable spin-spin relaxation NMR as well as (rotating frame) spin-lattice relaxation NMR. The data collected yield information on both the relevant activation energies and jump rates, which can directly be transformed into Li self-diffusion coefficients. At room temperature the Li self-diffusion coefficient turns out to be 10−15m2s−1, thus, slightly lower than that for layer-structured cathode materials such as Lix≈0.7TiS2. © 2013 American Physical Society

Studying Li dynamics in a gas-phase synthesized amorphous oxide by NMR and impedance spectroscopy

Li diffusion parameters of a structurally disordered Li-Al-Si-oxide prepared by gas-phase synthesis were complementarily investigated by both time-domain NMR techniques and impedance spectroscopy. The first include 7Li NMR spin-lattice relaxation (SLR) measurements in the laboratory as well as in the rotating frame of reference. An analysis of variable-temperature NMR line widths point to an activation energy E a of approximately 0.6 eV. The value is confirmed by rotating-frame SLR NMR data recorded at approximately 11 kHz. Above room temperature the low-temperature flank of a diffusion-induced rate peak shows up which can be approximated by an Arrhenius law yielding E a = 0.56(1) eV. This is in very good agreement with the result obtained from 7Li spin-alignment echo (SAE) NMR being sensitive to even slower Li dynamics. For comparison, dc-conductivity measurements, probing long-range motions, yield E a = 0.8 eV. Interestingly, lowtemperature SAE NMR decay rates point to localized Li motions being characterized with a very small activation energy of only 0.09 eV. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, München

Molekulaarse kompleksdiagnostika olulisus suguteede infektsioonide diagnoosimisel

Taust. Molekulaarne kompleksdiagnostika võimaldab kliinilisest materjalist määrata palju erinevaid haigust tekitavaid mikroorganisme korraga. Eesmärk. Selgitada senist suguteede infektsioonide diagnoosimise praktikat, kompleksuuringu mõju selle kvaliteedile. Metoodika. Quattromed HTI laborisse ühe kuu jooksul saabunud suguteedest võetud proove (n = 4985) uuriti sõltumata arsti tellimusest Luminexi xMAP-paneeliga suguteede infektsioonide selliste võimalike tekitajate suhtes nagu N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis, C. trachomatis LGV, T. vaginalis, M. genitalium, M. hominis, U. urealyticum, U. parvum. Tulemused. Enamasti tellis arst uuringu ühe (31%), kahe (22%) või kolme (20%) obligaatse või oportunistliku patogeeni suhtes. Enim telliti C. trachomatis’e uuringut (91% proovidest). Uuritud proovidest leiti N. gonorrhoeae 0,2%-l, C. trachomatis 3,5%-l, T. vaginalis 0,5%-l, M. genitalium 1,2%-l, M. hominis 7,9%-l, U. urealyticum 7,7%-l ja U. parvum 32%-l juhtudest. Kasutatud meetodiga tuvastasime uuritud materjalis ka teisi STLI tekitajaid, mille suhtes arst ei olnud uuringut tellinud (sagedamini mitmeid STLI-d tekitavaid mikroorganisme, nt N. gonorrhoeae ja M. genitalium). Analüüsides proove vaid arsti tellimuse järgi, oleks suguhaigusi põhjustavatest patogeenidest jäänud avastamata 40% N. gonorrhoeae, 0,6% C. trachomatis’e, 88% T. vaginalis’e ja 48% M. genitalium’i esinemisest. Järeldused. Kompleksdiagnostika kasutamine võimaldaks mitmete sugulisel teel levivate mikroorganismide (eelkoige N. gonorrhoeae ja T. vaginalis’e) paremat avastamist ning võiks seeläbi parandada suguhaiguste ravi ja diagnoosimise kvaliteeti.Eesti Arst 2014; 93(8):450–45