An Example from Switzerland

This article is based on comparative anthropological fieldwork conducted in the Alpine region of Switzerland on sustainable environmental knowledge about natural hazards related to climate change. It examines ways to complement the normative and technological practices of risk management by using local knowledge to improve the resilience of affected communities against climate- related risks. The study shows how agricultural practices and knowledge may contribute to sustainable behavior towards nature and the environment. It explores how local environmental knowledge, perceptions, and handling strategies of climate-related risks may be integrated within a renewed concept of environmental sustainability. Participatory GIS mapping (PGIS) is the primary research method used. Based on applied visual anthropological methods, PGIS is a cartographical approach that integrates local perceptions and strategies of action drawn from interviews and participant observation. This approach enables improved communication of local knowledge and contributes to interdisciplinary cooperation between different academic fields, such as social anthropology, geography, and civil-engineering in the context of technological risk management. The approach encourages the active participation of local people in the process of sustainable risk management through the integration of cultural meanings and local knowledge about the sustainable management of sensitive natural environments

Max und Moritz: uma tradução comentada

Wilhelm Busch é autor de “Max und Moritz”, obra publicada em 1865, que conta a história de dois meninos que aprontam traquinagens contra pessoas de uma vila sem nome. Um trabalho dessa envergadura e influência merece atenção e tradução constante. Neste trabalho, pretendeu-se aplicar as teorias descritivas de Peeter Torop a um extrato de texto, com os devidos comentários das escolhas tradutórias. De início tem-se a apresentação do autor do texto. Em seguida, uma pequena abordagem das teorias de Torop. No terceiro momento, o texto original e a sua tradução. Por fim, os comentários das escolhas tradutórias que demandaram mais cuidados. O trabalho em si mostra que é possível aplicar a teoria referida a um texto infantil em versos, tal como apregoado por Torop

Kilimanjaro’s melting glaciers: on the colonial and postcolonial perception and appropriation of African nature

Over the past decade, the melting glaciers of Kilimanjaro have come to symbolise the effects of global warming. At the same time, increased tourism in the region has an ambivalent quality as the industry capitalises on the celebration of the same nature (and its western appropriation) that is threatened by tourism’s major influence on world climate. In European perceptions, Mount Kilimanjaro has, since its first discovery in the 18th century, become an epitome of overwhelming beauty, representing – until today – wilderness and adventure to the more than 20,000 international tourists who climb the mountain each year. This paper traces how these perceptions are grounded in the foundations of aesthetic modernity that continue to shape the attraction of Mount ­Kilimanjaro. Further examinations focus on the consequences for the local population as well as the relationships between local inhabitants and international visitors attracted by the scale-making projects of an industry that continues the colonial conquest.Ao longo da última década, o degelo dos glaciares do Kilimanjaro tornou-se um símbolo dos efeitos do aquecimento global. Simultaneamente, o aumento do turismo na região tem um carácter ambivalente, já que a indústria ganha com a celebração da natureza (e sua apropriação pelo Ocidente), a mesma natureza que é ameaçada pela enorme influência do turismo sobre o clima mundial. Nas percepções europeias, o monte Kilimanjaro tornou-se, desde a sua descoberta no século XVIII, epítome da beleza avassaladora, sendo até hoje representativo do estado selvagem e da aventura para os mais de 20 mil turistas estrangeiros que sobem a montanha todos os anos. Este artigo identifica os modos como tais percepções se inscrevem nos fundamentos da modernidade estética que continuam a moldar a atracção pelo monte Kilimanjaro. A análise prossegue centrando-se nas suas consequências para a população local e nas relações entre os habitantes locais e os visitantes estrangeiros que são atraídos pelos projectos de configuração de escala de uma indústria que dá continuidade à conquista colonial

Eco-efficient flight trajectories - Using a Lagrangian approach in EMAC to investigate contrail formation in the mid latitudes

Air transport has for a long time been linked to environmental issues like pollution, noise and climate change. While CO2 emissions are the main focus in public discussions, non-CO2 emissions of aviation may have a similar impact on the climate as aviation's carbon dioxide, e.g. contrail cirrus, nitrogen oxides or aviation induced cloudiness. While the effects of CO2 on climate are independent of location and situation during release, non-CO2 effects such as contrail formation vary depending on meteorological background. Previous studies investigated the influence of different weather situations on aviation’s climate change contribution, identifying climate sensitive regions and generating data products which enable air traffic management (ATM) to plan for climate optimized trajectories. The research presented here focuses on the further development of methods to determine the sensitivity of the atmosphere to aviation emissions with respect to climate effects in order to determine climate optimized aircraft trajectories. While previous studies focused on characterizing the North Atlantic Flight Corridor region, this study aims to extend the geographic scope by performing Lagrangian simulations in a global climate model EMAC for the northern hemispheric extratropical regions and tropical latitudes. This study addresses how realistically the physical conditions and processes for contrail formation and life cycle are represented in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere by comparing them to airborne observations (HALO measurement campaign, CARIBIC/IAGOS scheduled flight measurements), examining key variables such as temperature or humidity. Direct comparison of model data with observations using clusters of data provides insight into the extent to which systematic biases exist that are relevant to the climate effects of contrails. We perform this comparison for different vertical resolutions to assess which vertical resolution in the EMAC model is well suited for studying contrail formation. Together with this model evaluation using aircraft measurements, the overall concept for studying the life cycle of contrails in the modular global climate model EMAC is introduced. Hereby, the concept for the development of a MET service that can be provided to ATM to evaluate contrail formation and its impact on the climate along planned aircraft trajectories is presented. Within the ClimOP collaborative project, we can investigate which physical processes determine the effects of contrails on climate and study their spatial and temporal variation. In addition, these climate change functions enable case studies that assess the impact of contrails on climate along trajectories and use alternative trajectories that avoid these regions of the atmosphere that have the potential to form contrails with a large radiative effect. This study is part of the ClimOP project and has received funding from European Union’s Horizo

Comparison of ibuprofen release from minitablets and capsules containing ibuprofen: β-Cyclodextrin complex

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2011 May;78(1):58-66. Epub 2010 Dec 30.Mixtures containing ibuprofen (IB) complexed with b-cyclodextrin (bCD) obtained by two complexation methods [suspension/solution (with water removed by air stream, spray- and freeze-drying) and kneading technique] were processed into pharmaceutical dosage forms (minitablets and capsules). Powders (IB, bCD and IBbCD) were characterized for moisture content, densities (true and bulk), angle of repose and Carr’s index, X-ray and NMR. From physical mixtures and IBbCD complexes without other excipients were prepared 2.5-mm-diameter minitablets and capsules. Minitablets were characterized for the energy of compaction, tensile strength, friability, density and IB release (at pH 1.0 and 7.2), whereby capsules were characterized for IB release. The results from the release of IB were analyzed using different parameters, namely, the similarity factor (f2), the dissolution efficiency (DE) and the amounts released at a certain time (30, 60 and 180 min) and compared statistically (a = 0.05). The release of IB from the minitablets showed no dependency on the amount of water used in the formation of the complexes. Differences were due to the compaction force used or the presence of a shell for the capsules. The differences observed were mostly due to the characteristics of the particles (dependent on the method considered on the formation of the complexes) and neither to the dosage form nor to the complex of the IB

The prospect of tumor microenvironment-modulating therapeutical strategies

Multiple mechanisms promote tumor prosperity, which does not only depend on cell-autonomous, inherent abnormal characteristics of the malignant cells that facilitate rapid cell division and tumor expansion. The neoplastic tissue is embedded in a supportive and dynamic tumor microenvironment (TME) that nurtures and protects the malignant cells, maintaining and perpetuating malignant cell expansion. The TME consists of different elements, such as atypical vasculature, various innate and adaptive immune cells with immunosuppressive or pro-inflammatory properties, altered extracellular matrix (ECM), activated stromal cells, and a wide range of secreted/stroma-tethered bioactive molecules that contribute to malignancy, directly or indirectly. In this review, we describe the various TME components and provide examples of anti-cancer therapies and novel drugs under development that aim to target these components rather than the intrinsic processes within the malignant cells. Combinatory TME-modulating therapeutic strategies may be required to overcome the resistance to current treatment options and prevent tumor recurrence

Feasibility of climate-optimized air traffic routing for trans-Atlantic flights

Current air traffic routing is motivated by minimizing economic costs, such as fuel use. In addition to the climate impact of CO2 emissions from this fuel use, aviation contributes to climate change through non-CO2 impacts, such as changes in atmospheric ozone and methane concentrations and formation of contrail-cirrus. These non-CO2 impacts depend significantly on where and when the aviation emissions occur. The climate impact of aviation could be reduced if flights were routed to avoid regions where emissions have the largest impact. Here, we present the first results where a climate-optimized routing strategy is simulated for all trans-Atlantic flights on 5 winter and 3 summer days, which are typical of representative winter and summer North Atlantic weather patterns. The optimization separately considers eastbound and westbound flights, and accounts for the effects of wind on the flight routes, and takes safety aspects into account. For all days considered, we find multiple feasible combinations of flight routes which have a smaller overall climate impact than the scenario which minimizes economic cost. We find that even small changes in routing, which increase the operating costs (mainly fuel) by only 1% lead to considerable reductions in climate impact of 10%. This cost increase could be compensated by market-based measures, if costs for non-CO2 climate impacts were included. Our methodology is a starting point for climate-optimized flight planning, which could also be applied globally. Although there are challenges to implementing such a system, we present a road map with the steps to overcome these

A concept for multi-criteria environmental assessment of aircraft trajectories

Comprehensive assessment of the environmental aspects of flight movements is of increasing interest to the aviation sector as a potential input for developing sustainable aviation strategies that consider climate impact, air quality and noise issues simultaneously. However, comprehensive assessments of all three environmental aspects do not yet exist and are in particular not yet operational practice in flight planning. The purpose of this study is to present a methodology which allows to establish a multi-criteria environmental impact assessment directly in the flight planning process. The method expands a concept developed for climate optimisation of aircraft trajectories, by representing additionally air quality and noise impacts as additional criteria or dimensions, together with climate impact of aircraft trajectory. We present the mathematical framework for environmental assessment and optimisation of aircraft trajectories. In that context we present ideas on future implementation of such advanced meteorological services into air traffic management and trajectory planning by relying on environmental change functions (ECFs). These ECFs represent environmental impact due to changes in air quality, noise and climate impact. In a case study for Europe prototype ECFs are implemented and a performance assessment of aircraft trajectories is performed for a one-day traffic sample. For a single flight fuel-optimal versus climate-optimized trajectory solution is evaluated using prototypic ECFs and identifying mitigation potential. The ultimate goal of such a concept is to make available a comprehensive assessment framework for environmental performance of aircraft operations, by providing key performance indicators on climate impact, air quality and noise, as well as a tool for environmental optimisation of aircraft trajectories. This framework would allow studying and characterising changes in traffic flows due to environmental optimisation, as well as studying trade-offs between distinct strategic measure

Case Study for Testing the Validity of NOx-Ozone Algorithmic Climate Change Functions for Optimising Flight Trajectories

One possibility to reduce the climate impact of aviation is the avoidance of climate-sensitive regions, which is synonymous with climate-optimised flight planning. Those regions can be identified by algorithmic Climate Change Functions (aCCFs) for nitrogen oxides (NO x x), water vapour (H 2 2O) as well as contrail cirrus, which provide a measure of climate effects associated with corresponding emissions. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of reducing the aviation-induced climate impact via ozone (O 3) formation (resulting from NO x x emissions), when solely using O 3 3 aCCFs for the aircraft trajectory optimisation strategy. The effectiveness of such a strategy and the associated potential mitigation of climate effects is explored by using the chemistry–climate model EMAC (ECHAM5/MESSy) with various submodels. A summer and winter day, characterised by a large spatial variability of the O 3 3 aCCFs, are selected