Combining MODIS LAI with ICESat-Based Canopy Heights Improves Spaceborne Estimates of Vegetation Roughness Length for Momentum

Most land-surface models require parameterization of vertical wind profiles within the atmospheric boundary layer. For vegetated surfaces, it is common to assume a logarithmic profile in the surface layer, which includes estimates of vegetation roughness length for momentum (z0) and zero-plane displacement height (d0). This study finds that remotely-sensed forest canopy heights improve estimates of aerodynamic roughness length for momentum using a previously-developed representation of the roughness sublayer (Raupach 1992; Jasinski et al. 2005). Resulting roughness products consist of two datasets: 1) 14 years of 8-day snapshots of the global land surface at a nominal spatial resolution of 500-meters for users who wish to retain full temporal resolution and interannual variability; and 2) multiyear averages of the 8-day snapshots, here referred to as "climatologies" of roughness, which retain underlying seasonality. Both products are suitable for use in data assimilation and reanalyses such as the National Climate Assessment Land Data Assimilation System (NCA-LDAS), for which these products were initially developed

A comprehensive framework for automotive sustainability assessment

Business efficiency, stakeholder pressure and the need for legislative compliance compel the automotive sector to design and manufacture fuel-efficient, low-impact, environmentally responsible and sustainable vehicles. Managing and responding to these multiple and sometimes conflicting interests requires the measurement of economic, environmental and societal performance. Although a number of automotive sustainability measures are mentioned within the literature, there is no single and unique approach for the complete and integrated sustainability assessment of vehicles. This study has developed a comprehensive automotive sustainability assessment framework by selecting a set of sustainability assessment criteria from the literature and refining these through an interview study with 24 automotive experts from academia, car manufacturers, consultancies and non-governmental organisations. Based on this approach, 26 midpoint and 9 end-point environmental, resource, social and economic impact categories have been identified for the construction of a framework for automotive sustainability assessment. The proposed framework can be used as a decision-supporting tool at the early stages of the vehicle development process. It allows source and sustainability issues to be identified throughout the entire vehicle life cycle and provides the means to sharpen analysis and discussion around these issues. The framework can also serve as a design structure for a wide range of sustainability assessment methods and tools (e.g. multi-criteria decision adding or sustainability accounting methods). It serves as guidance on what needs to be measured in an integrated sustainability assessment of vehicles and leaves the choice of what to include in the decision-making process to the discretion of individual companie

Faculty as Global Learners: Off-Campus Study at Liberal Arts Colleges

This co-authored collection offers valuable insights about the impact of leading off-campus study on faculty leaders’ teaching, research, service, and overall well-being. Recognizing that faculty leaders are themselves global learners, the book addresses ways that liberal arts colleges can more effectively achieve their strategic goals for students\u27 global learning by intentionally anticipating and supporting the needs of faculty leaders, as they grow and change. Faculty as Global Learners offers key findings and recommendations to stimulate conversations among administrators, faculty, and staff about concrete actions they can explore and steps they can take on their campuses to both support faculty leaders of off-campus programs and advance strategic institutional goals for global learning. This collection includes transferrable pedagogical insights and the perspectives of faculty members who have led off-campus study programs in a variety of disciplines and geographic regions.https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/mono/1174/thumbnail.jp

Phosphorus recovery: a need for an integrated approach

Increasing cost of phosphate fertilizer, a scarcity of high quality phosphate rock (PR)and increasing surface water pollution are driving aneed to accelerate the recovery and re-use ofphosphorus (P) from various waste sectors. Options to recover P occur all along the open P cycle from mining to households to oceans. However, P recovery as a regional and global strategy towards P sustainability and future food, bio energy and water security is in its infancy because of a number of technological, socio-economic and institutional constraints. There is no single solution and resolving these constraints requires concerted collaboration betweenrelevant stakeholders and an integrated approach combiningsuccessful business models withsocio-economic and institutional change. We suggest that an operational framework is developed for fast tracking cost-effective recovery options

Inversion domains in AlN grown on (0001) sapphire

Al-polarity inversion domains formed during AlN layer growth on (0001) sapphire were identified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). They resemble columnar inversion domains reported for GaN films grown on (0001) sapphire. However, for AlN, these columns have a V-like shape with boundaries that deviate by 2 {+-} 0.5{sup o} from the c-axis. TEM identification of these defects agrees with the post-growth surface morphology as well as with the microstructure revealed by etching in hot aqueous KOH

1-(2-Hydr­oxy-5-methyl­phen­yl)-3-(3-methylthiophen-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one

In the structure of the title compound, C15H14O2S, the benzene ring is nearly coplanar with the thio­phene ring. The hydroxy group substituted at C2 position is in an antiperi­planar conformation with respect to the phenyl ring. The crystal structure exhibits weak intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding

1-Bromo-2-(10β-dihydro­artemisin­oxy)ethane

The title compound, C17H27BrO5, DEB, is a derivative of artemisinin which is used in malara therapy. The OR-group at C12 is cis to the CH3-group at C11 and axially oriented on ring D which has a chair conformation. The crystal packing is stabilized by several weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions, which combine to form a C—H—O bonded network parallel to (001)

Six-minute walk distance after coronary artery bypass grafting compared with medical therapy in ischaemic cardiomyopathy

Background: In patients with ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) may decrease mortality, but it is not known whether CABG improves functional capacity. Objective: To determine whether CABG compared with medical therapy alone (MED) increases 6 min walk distance in patients with ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction and coronary artery disease amenable to revascularisation. Methods: The Surgical Treatment in Ischemic Heart disease trial randomised 1212 patients with ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction to CABG or MED. A 6 min walk distance test was performed both at baseline and at least one follow-up assessment at 4, 12, 24 and/or 36 months in 409 patients randomised to CABG and 466 to MED. Change in 6 min walk distance between baseline and follow-up were compared by treatment allocation. Results: 6 min walk distance at baseline for CABG was mean 340±117 m and for MED 339±118 m. Change in walk distance from baseline was similar for CABG and MED groups at 4 months (mean +38 vs +28 m), 12 months (+47 vs +36 m), 24 months (+31 vs +34 m) and 36 months (−7 vs +7 m), P>0.10 for all. Change in walk distance between CABG and MED groups over all assessments was also similar after adjusting for covariates and imputation for missing values (+8 m, 95% CI −7 to 23 m, P=0.29). Results were consistent for subgroups defined by angina, New York Heart Association class ≥3, left ventricular ejection fraction, baseline walk distance and geographic region. Conclusion: In patients with ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction CABG compared with MED alone is known to reduce mortality but is unlikely to result in a clinically significant improvement in functional capacity