Environmental Services Associated With The Reclamation Of Areas Degraded By Mining: Potential For Payments For Environmental Services

This paper discusses the potential of associating environmental services (ES) with techniques for reclaiming degraded areas (RDA) used in the mining sector, considering the current trends in payments for environmental services (PES) in Brazil. A literature review with content analysis generated results which identified the ES generated for eight cases of RDA in mining. As an example, ES related to soil enhancement were found. A more extended review of general RDA techniques confirmed the potential for associating other ES to RDA techniques used in mining, an example here is the enhancement of carbon stocks. Support for actions could come from existing PES schemes, particularly for cases where the ES identified as associated with an RDA technique are related to soil and water conservation. Concluding remarks indicate that there is a potential scenario for ES diversification in the reclamation stage of mining operations. A first step towards accomplishing this diversification envisages the creation of a PES scheme specific to the mining sector. Further studies are needed to develop criteria for fostering a PES scheme specifically for the reclamation phase of mining operations in Brazil.19213716

A new analysis of the GJ581 extrasolar planetary system

We have done a new analysis of the available observations for the GJ581 exoplanetary system. Today this system is controversial due to choices that can be done in the orbital determination. The main ones are the ocurrence of aliases and the additional bodies - the planets f and g - announced in Vogt et al. 2010. Any dynamical study of exoplanets requires the good knowledge of the orbital elements and the investigations involving the planet g are particularly interesting, since this body would lie in the Habitable Zone (HZ) of the star GJ581. This region,for this system, is very attractive of the dynamical point of view due to several resonances of two and three bodies present there. In this work, we investigate the conditions under which the planet g may exist. We stress the fact that the planet g is intimately related with the orbital elements of the planet d; more precisely, we conclude that it is not possible to disconnect its existence from the determination of the eccentricity of the planet d. Concerning the planet f, we have found one solution with period $\approx 450$ days, but we are judicious about any affirmation concernig this body because its signal is in the threshold of detection and the high period is in a spectral region where the ocorruence of aliases is very common. Besides, we outline some dynamical features of the habitable zone with the dynamical map and point out the role played by some resonances laying there.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Differential stress reaction of human colon cells to oleic-acid-stabilized and unstabilized ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles.

Therapeutic engineered nanoparticles (NPs), including ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) NPs, may accumulate in the lower digestive tract following ingestion or injection. In order to evaluate the reaction of human colon cells to USPIO NPs, the effects of non-stabilized USPIO NPs (NS-USPIO NPs), oleic-acid-stabilized USPIO NPs (OA-USPIO NPs), and free oleic acid (OA) were compared in human HT29 and CaCo2 colon epithelial cancer cells. First the biophysical characteristics of NS-USPIO NPs and OA-USPIO NPs in water, in cell culture medium supplemented with fetal calf serum, and in cell culture medium preconditioned by HT29 and CaCo₂ cells were determined. Then, stress responses of the cells were evaluated following exposure to NS-USPIO NPs, OA-USPIO NPs, and free OA. No modification of the cytoskeletal actin network was observed. Cell response to stress, including markers of apoptosis and DNA repair, oxidative stress and degradative/autophagic stress, induction of heat shock protein, or lipid metabolism was determined in cells exposed to the two NPs. Induction of an autophagic response was observed in the two cell lines for both NPs but not free OA, while the other stress responses were cell- and NP-specific. The formation of lipid vacuoles/droplets was demonstrated in HT29 and CaCo₂ cells exposed to OA-USPIO NPs but not to NS-USPIO NPs, and to a much lower level in cells exposed to equimolar concentrations of free OA. Therefore, the induction of lipid vacuoles in colon cells exposed to OA utilized as a stabilizer for USPIO NPs is higly amplified compared to free OA, and is not observed in the absence of this lipid in NS-USPIO NPs

The 1:1 resonance in Extrasolar Systems: Migration from planetary to satellite orbits

We present families of symmetric and asymmetric periodic orbits at the 1/1 resonance, for a planetary system consisting of a star and two small bodies, in comparison to the star, moving in the same plane under their mutual gravitational attraction. The stable 1/1 resonant periodic orbits belong to a family which has a planetary branch, with the two planets moving in nearly Keplerian orbits with non zero eccentricities and a satellite branch, where the gravitational interaction between the two planets dominates the attraction from the star and the two planets form a close binary which revolves around the star. The stability regions around periodic orbits along the family are studied. Next, we study the dynamical evolution in time of a planetary system with two planets which is initially trapped in a stable 1/1 resonant periodic motion, when a drag force is included in the system. We prove that if we start with a 1/1 resonant planetary system with large eccentricities, the system migrates, due to the drag force, {\it along the family of periodic orbits} and is finally trapped in a satellite orbit. This, in principle, provides a mechanism for the generation of a satellite system: we start with a planetary system and the final stage is a system where the two small bodies form a close binary whose center of mass revolves around the star.Comment: to appear in Cel.Mech.Dyn.Ast

Migration, TB control and elimination: Whom to screen and treat

Tuberculosis (TB) in migrants represents an important clinical and public health threat, particularly in low TB incidence countries. The current review is aimed to assess issues related to screening and treatment of migrants with latent TB infection or TB disease. Keywords: TB migrants, TB elimination, TB control screenin

Reducing nonideal to ideal coupling in random matrix description of chaotic scattering: Application to the time-delay problem

We write explicitly a transformation of the scattering phases reducing the problem of quantum chaotic scattering for systems with M statistically equivalent channels at nonideal coupling to that for ideal coupling. Unfolding the phases by their local density leads to universality of their local fluctuations for large M. A relation between the partial time delays and diagonal matrix elements of the Wigner-Smith matrix is revealed for ideal coupling. This helped us in deriving the joint probability distribution of partial time delays and the distribution of the Wigner time delay.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, no figures; published versio