Pollution Prevention: Factors Behind Toxic Release Reduction in the U.S. Paper Industry

Drs. Tiefenbacher and Solecki analyze the factors associated with, and influential in, the reduction of toxic releases in the U.S. paper industry

Themes of U.S. Wine Advertising and the Use of Geography and Place to Market Wine

Cet article décrit et traite du rôle de la géographie en matière de publicité pour le vin dans le célèbre magazine américain spécialisé en la matière : The Wine Spectator. L’analyse systématique du contenu visuel et textuel des 764 annonces publiées dans les 30 numéros (correspondant à deux ans de publication) démontre qu’environ 66 % d’entre elles présentaient des éléments géographiques, révélant clairement l’importance du lieu dans la production et la qualité de vin. L’approche qualitative basée sur une combinaison de méthodes a fait ressortir 8 messages identifiables et 11 thèmes distincts traités dans ces annonces. Le plus important d’entre eux étant l’importance du lieu et du paysage pour la qualité des vins. L’utilisation explicite de la notion de « terroir » n’est qu’un composant de la publicité vinicole actuelle et peut traduire l’évolution de la filière, passant de l’ère de la production de masse par les grandes entreprises vinicoles à la prolifération des plus petits producteurs intimement liés aux lieux et aux conditions de production. Cette étude jette les bases des recherches plus approfondies en vue de comparer les approches passées en matière d’annonces et l’importance relative de la géographie dans la publicité vinicole.This paper describes and discusses the role of geography in the advertising of wine in a popular American wine magazine, The Wine Spectator. Systematic assessment of the visual and textual contents of 764 advertisements that appeared in 30 issues (2 years of the publication) reveals that approximately 66% of advertisements contained geographical components that clearly suggest that place is important in the production and quality of wine. A mixed-methods qualitative approach yielded eight identifiable messages and eleven distinct themes reflected in these advertisements. The most important of these relate the importance of place and landscape to the quality of wines. Explicit use of the notion of terroir is but one component of contemporary wine advertising and may reflect a movement toward the “down-scaling” of the wine industry, reflecting a shift from the era of mass production of wine by large corporations to a proliferation of smaller producers who are intimate with the places and conditions of production. This study establishes a baseline for further research that can compare past approaches to advertisements and relative importance of geography in wine advertising

Transcatheter Implantation of the MONARC Coronary Sinus Device for Mitral Regurgitation 1-Year Results From the EVOLUTION Phase I Study (Clinical Evaluation of the Edwards Lifesciences Percutaneous Mitral Annuloplasty System for The Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation)

ObjectivesThis study sought to assess the safety and efficacy of transcatheter valve annuloplasty in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR).BackgroundMitral regurgitation is associated with a worsened prognosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Surgical mitral annuloplasty reduces the septal-lateral dimension of the mitral annulus resulting in improved leaflet coaptation with a reduction in regurgitation. Percutaneous annuloplasty with the MONARC device (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) implanted within the coronary sinus is designed to reduce mitral regurgitation through a similar mechanism.MethodsA total of 72 patients with MR grade ≥2 were enrolled at 8 participating centers in 4 countries. Clinical evaluation and transthoracic echocardiography were performed at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 months. Multislice cardiac computed tomography and coronary angiography were performed at baseline and 3 months.ResultsThe MONARC device was implanted in 59 of 72 patients (82%). The primary safety end point (freedom from death, tamponade, or myocardial infarction at 30 days) was met in 91% of patients at 30 days and in 82% at 1 year. Computed tomography imaging documented passage of the great cardiac vein over an obtuse marginal artery in 55% of patients and was associated with angiographic coronary artery compression in 15 patients and myocardial infarction in 2 patients (3.4%). At 12 months, a reduction in MR by ≥1 grade was observed in 50.0% of 22 implanted patients with matched echocardiograms and in 85.7% of 7 patients with baseline MR grade ≥3.ConclusionsImplantation of the MONARC device in the coronary sinus is feasible and may reduce MR. However, coronary artery compression may occur in patients in whom the great cardiac vein passes over a coronary artery, necessitating strategies in future studies to avoid this occurrence

Functional intercomparison of intraoperative radiotherapy equipment – Photon Radiosurgery System

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative Radiotherapy (IORT) is a method by which a critical radiation dose is delivered to the tumour bed immediately after surgical excision. It is being investigated whether a single high dose of radiation will impart the same clinical benefit as a standard course of external beam therapy. Our centre has four Photon Radiosurgery Systems (PRS) currently used to irradiate breast and neurological sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The PRS comprises an x-ray generator, control console, quality assurance tools and a mobile gantry. We investigated the dosimetric characteristics of each source and its performance stability over a period of time. We investigated half value layer, output diminution factor, internal radiation monitor (IRM) reproducibility and depth-doses in water. The half value layer was determined in air by the broad beam method, using high purity aluminium attenuators. To quantify beam hardening at clinical depths, solid water attenuators of 5 and 10 mm were placed between the x-ray probe and attenuators. The ion chamber current was monitored over 30 minutes to deduce an output diminution factor. IRM reproducibility was investigated under various exposures. Depth-dose curves in water were obtained at distances up to 35 mm from the probe. RESULTS: The mean energies for the beam attenuated by 5 and 10 mm of solid water were derived from ICRU Report 17 and found to be 18 and 24 keV. The average output level over a period of 30 minutes was found to be 99.12%. The average difference between the preset IRM limit and the total IRM count was less than 0.5%. For three x-ray sources, the average difference between the calculated and actual treatment times was found to be 0.62% (n = 30). The beam attenuation in water varied by approximately 1/r(3). CONCLUSION: The x-ray sources are stable over time. Most measurements were found to lie within the manufacturer's tolerances and an intercomparison of these checks suggests that the four x-ray sources have similar performance characteristics

Natural Hazards - Risk, Exposure, Response, and Resilience

Natural Hazards - Risk, Exposure, Response, and Resilience demonstrates advanced techniques to measure risks, exposures, responses, and solutions to hazards in an array of communities. Eleven original research reports by international scholars on hazard assessment and management are organized into four sections: studies assessing risk using in-depth modeling and technological detection to provide insight into problems associated with earthquakes, torrential rains, and nuclear power plant safety; studies revealing the spatial distributions of exposure and impacts from an assortment of hazards; studies examining human response to increased awareness of the patterns of hazard; and a study demonstrating assessment of resilience of sociotechnological systems to natural hazards. This volume contributes new conceptual and practical commentaries to assess, mitigate, and plan for disasters

Th e Role of International Boundaries in Flood Hazard, Social Vulnerability and Disaster: A Bi-National Case Study of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila and Del Rio, Texas

Th is paper investigates vulnerability and fl ood hazard in two borderland communities. A model for assessing vulnerability is applied to U.S. and Mexican communities of Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña to evaluate the spatial distribution of the characteristics of people, places, neighborhoods, and systems that infl uence the impacts of fl ood events that occur along the Rio Grande/Río Bravo. Spatial data from the U.S. and Mexican 2000 censuses are combined at block group and Área Geográfi ca Estadística Básica (AGEB) scales to evaluate demographic and other descriptors of the areas impacted by fl oods. Th e diff erences between the patterns of vulnerabilities relative to the distribution of fl ood risk in the two cities are highlighted and the implications of these patterns are discussed

Using machine learning to predict processes and morphometric features of watershed

Abstract The research aims to classify alluvial fans’ morphometric properties using the SOM algorithm. It also determines the relationship between morphometric characteristics and erosion rate and lithology using the GMDH algorithm. For this purpose, alluvial fans of 4 watersheds in Iran are extracted semi-automatically using GIS and digital elevation model (DEM) analysis. The relationships between 25 morphometric features of these watersheds, the amount of erosion, and formation material are investigated using the self-organizing map (SOM) method. Principal component analysis (PCA), Greedy, Best first, Genetic search, Random search as feature selection algorithms are used to select the most important parameters affecting erosion and formation material. The group method of data handling (GMDH) algorithm is employed to predict erosion and formation material based on morphometries. The results indicated that the semi-automatic method in GIS could detect alluvial fans. The SOM algorithm determined that the morphometric factors affecting the formation material were fan length, minimum height of fan, and minimum fan slope. The main factors affecting erosion were fan area (A f ) and minimum fan height (H min-f ). The feature selection algorithm identified (H min-f ), maximum fan height (H max-f ), minimum fan slope, and fan length (L f ) to be the morphometries most important for determining formation material, and basin area, fan area, (H max-f ) and compactness coefficient (C irb ) were the most important characteristics for determining erosion rates. The GMDH algorithm predicted the fan formation materials and rates of erosion with high accuracy (R2 = 0.94, R2 = 0.87)