Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the EU: A spatial assessment of sources and abatement costs

Agriculture contributes significantly to the emissions of greenhouse gases in the EU. By using a farm-type, linear-programming based model of the European agricultural supply, we first assess the initial levels of methane and nitrous oxide emissions at the regional level in the EU. For a range of CO2 prices, we assess the potential abatement that can be achieved through an IPCC-based emission tax in EU agriculture, as well as the resulting optimal mix of emission sources in the total abatement. Further, we show that the spatial variability of the abatement actually achieved at a given carbon price is large, indicating that abatement cost heterogeneity is a fundamental feature in the design of a mitigation policy. We assess the efficiency loss associated with uniform standards relative to an emission tax.Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture, methane, nitrous oxide, European Union, marginal abatement costs, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q25, Q15,

Density functional theory and modified embedded-atom method: applications to steel, magnesium alloys, and semiconductor surfaces

We performed atomistic modeling to study structural and mechanical properties of materials. We used density functional theory (DFT) for all the studies presented and constructed a method for quickly optimizing semi-empirical modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potentials. In our first study, we show that the reconstruction model in the literature for GaSb(001) is not predicted to have the lowest surface reconstruction energy. A modification was proposed that improves the energy. The second study tries to validate a crystal structure for the Φ Phase of Al-Mg-Zn. The third study deals with plain carbon steel, including some microalloying of Vanadium and vacancy assisted diffusion of Fe in Cementite(Fe3C). In the fourth study, we show a method for optimizing a MEAM potential. The code written is specific to hexagonal closed packed structures and was applied to a Magnesium potential

Density functional theory and modified embedded-atom method: applications to steel, magnesium alloys, and semiconductor surfaces

We performed atomistic modeling to study structural and mechanical properties of materials. We used density functional theory (DFT) for all the studies presented and constructed a method for quickly optimizing semi-empirical modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potentials. In our first study, we show that the reconstruction model in the literature for GaSb(001) is not predicted to have the lowest surface reconstruction energy. A modification was proposed that improves the energy. The second study tries to validate a crystal structure for the Φ Phase of Al-Mg-Zn. The third study deals with plain carbon steel, including some microalloying of Vanadium and vacancy assisted diffusion of Fe in Cementite(Fe3C). In the fourth study, we show a method for optimizing a MEAM potential. The code written is specific to hexagonal closed packed structures and was applied to a Magnesium potential

Attitudes to information technology in health care professions

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes towards IT among various categories of health care staff; health care professions. We will identify problem areas that may be the reasons for why different attitudes among different professions at a healthcare organisation exist, and subsequently we will analyse how this may have impact on how to make sense of IT use. The research question is: What factors may explain differences regarding attitudes to IT among different professions in a health care organisation? The paper reports from a particular study of the “NU” healthcare organisation in west Sweden. The results reveal two main problem areas: i) the infrastructural and; ii) the socio-organisational. These are discussed as analytical implications for bridging the gaps between different professions in health care organisations

Evaluation of Coverboards for Sampling Salamanders in South Georgia

Salamanders are important components of many forested communities. However, their fossorial habits and seasonality often make them difficult to sample. The use of artificial coverboards (coverboards) is a relatively new and little-studied technique for monitoring the terrestrial activity of salamanders Coverboards are designed to simulate fallen tree limbs and logs, and to provide a moist refuge for forest salamanders. Despite several studies, questions remain concerning the value of coverboards. Therefore, I conducted an experiment in 1996-1997 to determine whether coverboards are as effective for sampling salamanders as searching natural cover objects such as logs and branches. Using a paired design, I established five sites, each containing two 1-ha grids separated by 20 m. One of the grids contained only natural debris while the other grid contained natural debris and 100 individually numbered coverboards (30.4 x 30.4 x 2 cm) each placed 10 m apart. During the spring (26 April - 6 June) and fall (25 September - 7 November) of 1997, the paired grids (coverboards and natural cover) were checked every 1-2 weeks at each site for any salamander species. Encounter rates were significantly lower under coverboards (0.8 salamanders per site check ±0.15 SE) than under natural cover (2.3 salamanders per site check ±0.34 SE). However, searches under coverboards detected most of the same species (Plethodon glutinosus ocmulgee, Eurycea cirrigera, E. quadridigitata, and E. guttolineata) as found under natural cover (P. g. ocmulgee, E. cirrigera, E. quadridigitata, E. guttolineata, and Ambystoma opacum). Salamander size/age under coverboards (mean=4.32 cm ±0.22 SE) was also the same as salamander size/age under natural cover (mean=4.34 cm ±0.33 SE). The number of salamanders found under coverboards was dependent on rainfall and site. Coverboards did not reproduce the same physical characteristics of natural cover. The temperature under coverboards fluctuated more than the temperature under natural cover. This is the first comparative study to quantify salamanders sampled by an array of coverboards and that sampled by an adjacent grid of natural cover objects. It was also the first to quantify the thermal microclimate under coverboards compared to natural cover. Overall, my results show that coverboards can effectively sample salamanders that normally occur under natural cover (in terms of species and size/age), although they detect fewer individuals. There is a positive relationship in the number of salamanders encountered under coverboards and rainfall in southeast Georgia

Structure of AlSb(001) and GaSb(001) Surfaces Under Extreme Sb-rich Conditions

We use density-functional theory to study the structure of AlSb(001) and GaSb(001) surfaces. Based on a variety of reconstruction models, we construct surface stability diagrams for AlSb and GaSb under different growth conditions. For AlSb(001), the predictions are in excellent agreement with experimentally observed reconstructions. For GaSb(001), we show that previously proposed model accounts for the experimentally observed reconstructions under Ga-rich growth conditions, but fails to explain the experimental observations under Sb-rich conditions. We propose a new model that has a substantially lower surface energy than all (nx5)-like reconstructions proposed previously and that, in addition, leads to a simulated STM image in better agreement with experiment than existing models. However, this new model has higher surface energy than some of (4x3)-like reconstructions, models with periodicity that has not been observed. Hence we conclude that the experimentally observed (1x5) and (2x5) structures on GaSb(001) are kinetically limited rather than at the ground state.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

LESSONS ON OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION FROM MAP

Although moisture-laden airflow towards a mountain is a necessary ingredient, the results from MAP taught us that detailed knowledge of the orographically modified flow is crucial for predicting the intensity, location and duration of orographic precipitation. Understanding the orographically modified flow as it occurs in the Alps was difficult since it depends on the static stability of the flow, which is heavily influenced by the complex effects of latent heating, and the mountain shape, which has important and complicated variations on scales ranging from a few to 100\u27s of kilometers. Central themes in all the wet-MAP studies are the ways the complex Alpine orography influenced the moist, stratified airflow to produce the observed precipitation patterns, by determining the location and rate of upward air motion and triggering fine-scale motions and microphysical processes that locally enhance the growth and fallout of precipitation. In this presentation will review the major findings from the MAP observations, along with related theoretical developments

Modification of Precipitation by Coastal Orography in Storms Crossing Northern California

This study compiles and interprets three-dimensional Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) data during a 2.5-yr period and examines the typical orographic effects on precipitation mainly associated with winter storms passing over coastal northern California.The three-dimensional mean reflectivity patterns show echo structure that was generally stratiform from over the ocean to inland over the mountains. The flow above the 1-km level was strong enough to be unblocked by the terrain, and the mean echo pattern over land had certain characteristics normally associated with an unblocked cross-barrier flow, both on the broad scale of the windward slopes of the coastal mountains and on the scale of individual peaks of the terrain on the windward side. Upward-sloping echo contours on the scale of the overall region of coastal mountains indicated broadscale upslope orographic enhancement. On a smaller scale, the mean stratiform echo pattern over the mountains contained a strong embedded core of maximum reflectivity over the first major peak of terrain encountered by the unblocked flow and a secondary echo core over the second major rise of the coastal mountain terrain.Offshore, upstream of the coastal mountains, the reflectivity pattern showed a region of enhanced mainly stratiform echo within ∼100 km of the coast, with an embedded echo core, similar to those over the inland mountain peaks, along its leading edge. It is suggested that the offshore enhancement is caused by intensified frontogenesis in the offshore coastal zone and/or by the onshore directed low-level flow rising over a thin layer of cool, stable air dammed against the coastal mountains.The orographically enhanced precipitation offshore and over the coastal mountains was present to some degree in all the landfalling storms. However, the degree to which each feature was present varied. All the features were more pronounced when the 500–700-hPa flow was strong, the midlevel humidity was high, and the low-level cross-barrier wind component was strong. When the low-level stability was greater, the offshore enhancement of precipitation was proportionately increased, and the general broadscale enhancement inland was reduced