One and Two Way Packaging in the Dairy Sector

Choosing packaging material for dairy products and soft drinks is an interesting issue at the moment. Discussions arise on the costs impacts and environmental impacts of both one way packaging and reusable packaging. The aim of this article is to develop an evaluation tool providing costs and environmental impacts of the PC-bottle and the GT-packs in the dairy sector, considering forward and return flows. The evaluation tool enables the user to analyse the costs and environmental impacts of a supply chain with and without return flows using scenario analyses with respect to the use of various carrier types and the number of return loops. It appears that costs differences between PC-bottles and GT-pack are quite small. The PC bottle has a better environmental profile than the GT-pack. Scenario analysis on the carriers results in the advice to use preferably roll-in-containers with direct delivery, secondly roll-in-containers with delivery via distribution centers, thirdly in case of direct delivery either cartons or crates and cartons in case of delivery via distribution centers.pricing;supply chain management;reverse logistics;environment;life cycle assessment

Making things happen : a model of proactive motivation

Being proactive is about making things happen, anticipating and preventing problems, and seizing opportunities. It involves self-initiated efforts to bring about change in the work environment and/or oneself to achieve a different future. The authors develop existing perspectives on this topic by identifying proactivity as a goal-driven process involving both the setting of a proactive goal (proactive goal generation) and striving to achieve that proactive goal (proactive goal striving). The authors identify a range of proactive goals that individuals can pursue in organizations. These vary on two dimensions: the future they aim to bring about (achieving a better personal fit within one’s work environment, improving the organization’s internal functioning, or enhancing the organization’s strategic fit with its environment) and whether the self or situation is being changed. The authors then identify “can do,” “reason to,” and “energized to” motivational states that prompt proactive goal generation and sustain goal striving. Can do motivation arises from perceptions of self-efficacy, control, and (low) cost. Reason to motivation relates to why someone is proactive, including reasons flowing from intrinsic, integrated, and identified motivation. Energized to motivation refers to activated positive affective states that prompt proactive goal processes. The authors suggest more distal antecedents, including individual differences (e.g., personality, values, knowledge and ability) as well as contextual variations in leadership, work design, and interpersonal climate, that influence the proactive motivational states and thereby boost or inhibit proactive goal processes. Finally, the authors summarize priorities for future researc

Extent and Causes of Chesapeake Bay Warming

Coastal environments such as the Chesapeake Bay have long been impacted by eutrophication stressors resulting from human activities, and these impacts are now being compounded by global warming trends. However, there are few studies documenting long-term estuarine temperature change and the relative contributions of rivers, the atmosphere, and the ocean. In this study, Chesapeake Bay warming, since 1985, is quantified using a combination of cruise observations and model outputs, and the relative contributions to that warming are estimated via numerical sensitivity experiments with a watershed–estuarine modeling system. Throughout the Bay’s main stem, similar warming rates are found at the surface and bottom between the late 1980s and late 2010s (0.02 +/- 0.02C/year, mean +/- 1 standard error), with elevated summer rates (0.04 +/- 0.01C/year) and lower rates of winter warming (0.01 +/- 0.01C/year). Most (~85%) of this estuarine warming is driven by atmospheric effects. The secondary influence of ocean warming increases with proximity to the Bay mouth, where it accounts for more than half of summer warming in bottom waters. Sea level rise has slightly reduced summer warming, and the influence of riverine warming has been limited to the heads of tidal tributaries. Future rates of warming in Chesapeake Bay will depend not only on global atmospheric trends, but also on regional circulation patterns in mid-Atlantic waters, which are currently warming faster than the atmosphere. Supporting model data available at: https://doi.org/10.25773/c774-a36

Time gated fluorescence lifetime imaging and micro-volume spectroscopy using two-photon excitation

A scanning microscope utilizing two-photon excitation in combination with fluorescence lifetime contrast is presented. The microscope makes use of a tunable femtosecond titanium:sapphire laser enabling the two-photon excitation of a broad range of fluorescent molecules, including UV probes. Importantly, the penetration depth of the two-photon exciting (infra)red light is substantially greater than for the corresponding single-photon wavelength while photobleaching is significantly reduced. The time structure of the Ti:Sa laser can be employed in a straightforward way for the realization of fluorescence lifetime imaging. The fluorescence lifetime is sensitive to the local environment of the fluorescent molecule. This behaviour can be used for example to quantify concentrations of ions, such as pH and Ca2+, or pO2 and pCO2. In the set-up presented here the fluorescence lifetime imaging is accomplished by time-gated single photon counting. The performance and optical properties of the microscope are investigated by a number of test measurements on fluorescent test beads. Point-spread functions calculated from measurements on 230-nm beads using an iterative restoration procedure compare well with theoretical expectations. Lifetime imaging experiments on a test target containing two different types of test bead in a fluorescent buffer all with different lifetimes (2.15 ns, 2.56 ns and 3.34 ns) show excellent quantitative agreement with reference values obtained from time correlated single photon counting measurements. Moreover, the standard deviation in the results can be wholly ascribed to the photon statistics. Measurements of acridine orange stained biofilms are presented as an example of the potential of two-photon excitation combined with fluorescence lifetime contrast. Fluorescence lifetime and intensity images were recorded over the whole sample depth of 100 μm. Fluorescence intensity imaging is seriously hampered by the rapid decrease of the fluorescence signal as a function of the depth into the sample. Fluorescence lifetime imaging on the other hand is not affected by the decrease of the fluorescence intensity

Een Dijk van een Kwelder : een verkenning naar de golfreducerende werking van kwelders

Dit rapport geeft een samenvatting van relevant onderzoek naar de golfreducerende werking van kwelders en schetst de randvoorwaarden voor kweldervorming. Kwelders vormen een zone in het intergetijdengebied die de golven beïnvloeden door de weerstand van de bodem en de kweldervegetatie. De golfreducerende werking is afhankelijk van de hoogte en breedte van de kwelder, maar ook van de optredende waterstanden. Het is nog onduidelijk in hoeverre kwelders een bijdrage kunnen leveren aan de waterveiligheid in een veranderend klimaat. De studie is verricht in opdracht van het Deltaprogramma Deelprogramma Waddengebied en vormt een stap in het verkennen van geschikte waterveiligheidsstrategieën in het Waddengebied die zich naast waterveiligheid richten op doelstellingen voor natuur en ruimtelijke kwaliteit

Wetland plant development overrides nitrogen effects on initial methane emissions after peat rewetting

Growing productive wetland species on rewetted peatland (paludiculture) is a promising solution to offset carbon loss from drained peatlands. The inlet of nitrogen (N) rich surface water, a proposed method to improve productivity of vegetation, may affect methane (CH4) emissions. This study aims to compare initial CH4 emissions from newly rewetted peat with different types of vegetation and N loading simulating diffuse N inlet. Diffusive CH4 emissions were measured in peat mesocosms during one growing season. Peat cores were either planted with Typha latifolia or Phragmites australis or they were left bare. Mesocosms received 0, 50, 150 or 450 kg ha−1 year−1 N. Plants affected CH4 emissions from rewetted peat soil, leading to stable fluxes over time of 133 mg m−2 day−1 CH4 at 20 °C. Biomass harvesting lead to a 153% increase of CH4 emissions. With increasing N load, CH4 emissions from mesocosms with Typha and Phragmites decreased up to a load of 150 kg ha−1 N, but this was only significant for the Phragmites treatment. Emissions of unvegetated mesocosms increased with increasing N load but not significantly. In conclusion, our mesocosm study suggests that vegetation can reduce or prevent an increase in CH4 emissions from rewetted peatlands compared to only rewetting, possibly due to an increased oxygenation of the sediments by macrophyte roots preventing excessive CH4 formation, while added N does not provoke great changes in emissions at N concentrations up to 150 kg ha−1.</p