Access to information and the role of environmental assessment registries for public participation

International practice shows an increasing use of web-based Environmental Assessment (EA) registries or project websites to provide public access to information. In support of statutory public participation, registries inform when to participate and provide relevant documents and the continued availability of information. However, what constitutes good practice in this field? This article proposes a framework for assessing good practice in providing access to information via registries. Based on performance indicators for an ‘ideal’ registry, the framework allows evaluation in the review categories: framework conditions, notice of projects, provision of documents, accessibility of information and ongoing information regarding the status of the environmental assessment. An explorative case study analysis applies the framework and presents results on the performance of international practice examples

Graduation recital, Lisa McDonald, soprano; Brian Way, piano

Graduation recital, Lisa McDonald, soprano; Brian Way, pianoPresented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Music 440B

The surge of earthquakes in Central Oklahoma has features of reservoir-induced seismicity

The recent surge of seismicity in Oklahoma and Kansas is related to fluid disposal. Evidences suggest that critical parameters are the injection volume as well as injection depth but dominant physical processes and a corresponding model to describe the physics are still not clear. We analyse the spatio-temporal distribution of induced earthquakes in the basement and find visible signatures of pore pressure diffusion and poroelastic coupling, features which strongly resemble seismicity induced by the filling of artificial lakes, so-called reservoir-induced seismicity. We developed a first-principle model of underground reservoir-induced seismicity. The physics of the model are based upon the combined mechanisms of fluid mass added to the pore-space of the injection layer and acting as a normal stress on the basement surface, pore-fluid pressure diffusion in the basement as well as poroelastic coupling contributing to the pore-fluid pressure and stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate that underground reservoir-induced seismicity occurs preferably in normal faulting and strike-slip settings, the latter being prevalent in Oklahoma. Our model explains observed injection volume and depth dependence of the seismicity and should be considered as a basis for future hazard prediction and prevention as well as for planning possible disposal sites

The grass is always greener on the other side: : the access to environmental assessment documents in Germany in international comparison

Erfolgreiche Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung braucht Information. Dennoch wird der Aspekt der adäquaten Informationsbereitstellung im Kontext der Umweltprüfungen in Deutschland noch wenig diskutiert. Aus demokratietheoretischer Sicht geht es dabei nicht nur um die Verfügbarkeit und leichte Auffindbarkeit von Dokumenten, Informationen und Verfahrensunterlagen. Auch Aspekte wie eine angemessene Bekanntgabe des Projekts oder Plans, hinreichende Zeit zur Vorbereitung und Teilnahme für Dritte sowie die Allgemeinverständlichkeit und Lesbarkeit der Dokumente gelten dabei als weitere Schlüsselpunkte. Motiviert durch einen idealtypischen Zugang zu Dokumenten und Informationen der Umweltprüfung erfolgen zum einen Hinweise auf internationale „Good practice“- Beispiele, zum anderen wird die betreffende Situation in Deutschland charakterisiert. Sicherlich ist der Weg zu komfortablen UVP/SUP-Auskunfts- und Dokumentationssystemen auch international noch nicht konsequent und weit genug fortgeschritten. Der Beitrag zeigt jedoch, dass es durchaus besser geht – und aus demokratischen Gründen gehen muss –, als es die aktuelle Situation in Deutschland ermöglicht.Successful public participation requires information. Nonetheless, the issue of adequate provision of information in the context of environmental impact assessments (EIA) and strategic environmental assessments (SEA) is discussed very little in Germany. From a democratic theory perspective, it is not just about the availability and accessibility of documents, information and procedural documentations. Also aspects like fair notice, time to prepare and the readability of documents play an important role. Motivated by a blueprint of the ideal access to EIA/SEA documents and process information, on the one hand examples on international “good practice” are provided while on the other hand the respective practice in Germany is discussed. Certainly, the international examples show that the way to a comfortable EIA/SEA documentation and information system is still progressing and not yet consistent. However, the paper shows that there are indeed better approaches – and, for democratic reasons, have to be – than the current practice in Germany provides

Shape-Dependent Catalytic Activity of Gold and Bimetallic Nanoparticles in the Reduction of Methylene Blue by Sodium Borohydride

In this study the catalytic activity of different gold and bimetallic nanoparticle solutions towards the reduction of methylene blue by sodium borohydride as a model reaction is investigated. By utilizing differently shaped gold nanoparticles, i.e., spheres, cubes, prisms and rods as well as bimetallic gold–palladium and gold–platinum core-shell nanorods, we evaluate the effect of the catalyst surface area as available gold surface area, the shape of the nanoparticles and the impact of added secondary metals in case of bimetallic nanorods. We track the reaction by UV/Vis measurements in the range of 190–850 nm every 60 s. It is assumed that the gold nanoparticles do not only act as a unit transferring electrons from sodium borohydride towards methylene blue but can promote the electron transfer upon plasmonic excitation. By testing different particle shapes, we could indeed demonstrate an effect of the particle shape by excluding the impact of surface area and/or surface ligands. All nanoparticle solutions showed a higher methylene blue turnover than their reference, whereby gold nanoprisms exhibited 100% turnover as no further methylene blue absorption peak was detected. The reaction rate constant k was also determined and revealed overall quicker reactions when gold or bimetallic nanoparticles were added as a catalyst, and again these were highest for nanoprisms. Furthermore, when comparing gold and bimetallic nanorods, it could be shown that through the addition of the catalytically active second metal platinum or palladium, the dye turnover was accelerated and degradation rate constants were higher compared to those of pure gold nanorods. The results explore the catalytic activity of nanoparticles, and assist in exploring further catalytic applications

BOOST -- A Satellite Mission to Test Lorentz Invariance Using High-Performance Optical Frequency References

BOOST (BOOst Symmetry Test) is a proposed satellite mission to search for violations of Lorentz invariance by comparing two optical frequency references. One is based on a long-term stable optical resonator and the other on a hyperfine transition in molecular iodine. This mission will allow to determine several parameters of the standard model extension in the electron sector up to two orders of magnitude better than with the current best experiments. Here, we will give an overview of the mission, the science case and the payload.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

The Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia on Multidimensional Perfectionism

Perfectionism is related to insomnia and objective markers of disturbed sleep. This study examined whether multidimensional perfectionism is related to dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, sleep-effort, pre-sleep arousal, and polysomnography-determined markers of sleep amongst individuals with insomnia. The effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) on perfectionism was also examined. This was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial on CBT-I. Forty-three insomnia patients were randomized to treatment (receiving CBT-I) or waitlist control groups. Sleep was recorded using polysomnography at baseline. Participants completed measures of perfectionism, dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, sleep-effort and pre-sleep arousal at baseline and post-treatment. Total perfectionism scores and doubts about action, concern over mistakes and personal standards were each significantly related to increased sleep effort, pre-sleep arousal and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep at baseline. Patients receiving treatment displayed increased total perfectionism scores post-treatment d=.49. In those receiving treatment, levels of organization d=.49 and parental expectations d=.47 were significantly increased post-treatment, relative to baseline. In line with the literature, our results confirm that perfectionism is related to insomnia. Here, insomnia was related to increased sleep effort, pre-sleep arousal and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep. The propensity to maintain a high standard of order and organization may be elevated following CBT-I, considering the treatment protocol expects patients to strictly adhere to a set of clearly defined rules. Levels of parental expectations may be increased following CBT-I since the patient-therapist-relationship may trigger implicitly expectations in the patients which are reminiscent of their relationship to their parents

Development of a GEM-TPC prototype

The use of GEM foils for the amplification stage of a TPC instead of a con- ventional MWPC allows one to bypass the necessity of gating, as the backdrift is suppressed thanks to the asymmetric field configuration. This way, a novel continuously running TPC, which represents one option for the PANDA central tracker, can be realized. A medium sized prototype with a diameter of 300 mm and a length of 600 mm will be tested inside the FOPI spectrometer at GSI using a carbon or lithium beam at intermediate energies (E = 1-3AGeV). This detector test under realistic experimental conditions should allow us to verify the spatial resolution for single tracks and the reconstruction capability for displaced vertexes. A series of physics measurement implying pion beams is scheduled with the FOPI spectrometer together with the GEM-TPC as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings for 11th ICATTP conference in como (italy

Prediction of pregnancy state from milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy in dairy cows

Submitted 2020-07-14 | Accepted 2020-08-18 | Available 2020-12-01https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.mi-fpap.224-232Pregnancy assessment is a very important tool for the reproductive management in efficient and profitable dairy farms. Nowadays, mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy is the method of choice in the routine milk recording system for quality control and to determine standard milk components. Since it is well known that there are changes in milk yield and composition during pregnancy, the aim of this study was to develop a discriminant model to predict the pregnancy state from routinely recorded MIR spectral data. The data for this study was from the Austrian milk recording system. Test day records of Fleckvieh, Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian cows between 3 and 305 days of lactation were included in the study. As predictor variables, the first derivative of 212 selected MIR spectral wavenumbers were used. The data set contained roughly 400,000 records from around 40,000 cows and was randomly split into calibration and validation set by farm. Prediction was done with Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis. Indicators of model fit were sensitivity, specificity, balanced accuracy and Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC). In a first approach, one discriminant model for all cows across the whole lactation and gestation lengths was applied. The sensitivity and specificity of this model in validation were 0.856 and 0.836, respectively. Splitting up the results for different lactation stages showed that the model was not able to predict pregnant cases before the third month of lactation and vice versa not able to predict non-pregnancy after the third month of lactation. Consequently, in the second approach a prediction model for each different (expected) pregnancy stage and lactation stage was developed. Balanced accuracies ranged from 0.523 to 0.918. 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Mid-infrared prediction of bovine milk fatty acids across multiple breeds, production systems, and countries. Journal of Dairy Science, 94(4), 1657–1667. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2010-3408Soyeurt, H., Bastin, C., Colinet, F. G., Arnould, V. M.-R., Berry, D. P., Wall, E., Dehareng, F., Nguyen, H. N., Pardenne, P., Schefers, J., Vandenplas, J., Weigel, K., Coffey, M., Théron, L., Detilleux, J., Reding, E., Gengler, N. & McParland, S. (2012). Mid-infrared prediction of lactoferrin content in bovine milk: potential indicator of mastitis. Animal, 6(11), 1830–1838. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1751731112000791Toffanin, V., De Marchi, M., Lopez-Villalobos, N., & Cassandro, M. (2015). Effectiveness of mid-infrared spectroscopy for prediction of the contents of calcium and phosphorus, and titratable acidity of milk and their relationship with milk quality and coagulation properties. International Dairy Journal, 41, 68–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2014.10.002Vanlierde, A., Vanrobays, M.-L., Dehareng, F., Froidmont, E., Soyeurt, H., McParland, S., S., Lewis, E., Deighton, M. H., Grandl, F., Kreuzer, M., Gredler, B., Dardenne, P. & Gengler, N. (2015). Hot topic: Innovative lactation-stage-dependent prediction of methane emissions from milk mid-infrared spectra. Journal of Dairy Science, 98(8), 5740–5747. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2014-8436Vanlierde, A., Soyeurt, H., Gengler, N., Colinet, F. G., Froidmont, E., Kreuzer, M., Grandl, F., Bell, M., Lund, P., Olijhoek, D. W., Eugéne M., Martin, C., Kuhla, B. & Dehareng, F. (2018). Short communication: Development of an equation for estimating methane emissions of dairy cows from milk Fourier transform mid-infrared spectra by using reference data obtained exclusively from respiration chambers. Journal of Dairy Science, 101(8). https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-14472