Moderne Staatlichkeit - Staatsaufbau, Staatskollaps und Rekonstruktion des Staates im Libanon

Vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit moderner Staatlichkeit. Ausgehend von einer Darstellung ihrer Entstehung in Europa ab der frühen Neuzeit werden zunächst Kriterien festgemacht welche wir als moderne Staatlichkeit konstituierend ansehen und sich in den Staatlichen Institutionen des Gewaltmonopols, der Ressourcengenerierung, der Staatsleitung und der Bürokratie ausdrücken. Aufbauend hierauf, werden die gefundenen, charakteristischen Merkmale moderner Staatlichkeit anhand der historischen Entwicklung des Libanon bis zur Unabhängigkeit und darüber hinaus, bis zum Ausbruch des Bürgerkrieges 1975 aufgezeigt. Es erfolgt eine Analyse der einzelnen Institutionen, um zu klären inwiefern ihre Ausformung im Libanon als moderne Staatlichkeit konstituierend angesehen werden kann. Der Dritte teil der Arbeit beschreibt den Zerfall der libanesischen Staatlichkeit im 15-jährigen Bürgerkrieg. Eine allgemeine Erfassung des Ausmaßes des Staatszerfalls wird angestrebt und die dem Bürgerkrieg nachfolgenden Bemühungen zur (Wieder) Errichtung der libanesischen Staatlichkeit im politischen und historischen Kontext dargestelltThis paper deals with modern statehood, beginning with an introduction into the historical emergence of the modern state in europe, from early modern times onwards. Based on this, the criteria, facilitating modern statehood are elaborated and identified as four core state infrastructures: infrastructure for the legitimate use of force; infrastructure for resource-generation; the infrastructure for the production of collectively binding decisions and infrastructure for the production of indefinite individual decisions, Based on this research analyses the emergence of these infrastructures during state-formation in Lebanon from historical times to independence, until the outbreak of civil war 1975. This results in an evaluation of each institution and an assessment, if modern statehood did exist in prewar Lebanon. The third part of this paper describes the disintegration of lebanese statehood during the 15-year civil war. An assessment on the degree of state failure is given, followed by the characterisation of the subsequent efforts to (re) build a lebanese state, regarding the political and historical context

Synergies between BECCS and Biochar - Maximizing Carbon Sequestration Potential by Recycling Wood Ash

Bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and biochar are key carbon-negative technologies. In this study, synergies between these technologies were explored by using ash from wood combustion, a byproduct from BECCS, as an additive (0, 5, 10, 20, and 50 wt %) in biochar production (wood pyrolysis at 450 °C). The addition of wood ash catalyzed biochar formation and increased the yield of fixed carbon (FC) (per dry, ash-free feedstock), i.e., the sequestrable carbon per spruce wood input. At the highest ash addition (50%), 45% less wood was needed to yield the same amount of FC. Since the land area available for growing biomass is becoming scarcer, our approach significantly increases biochar’s potential to sequester carbon. However, increasing the feedstock ash content results in less feedstock carbon available for conversion into FC. Consequently, the yield of FC per pyrolysis run (based on dry feedstock) in the 50% ash-amended material was lower than in the control. An economic analysis showed that the 20% ash-amended biochar brings the biggest cost savings over the control with a 15% decrease in CO₂-abatement costs. Biochar–ash composites increase the carbon sequestration potential of biochar significantly, reduce the CO₂-abatement costs, and recycle nutrients which can result in increased plant growth in turn and more biomass for BECCS, bringing synergies for BECCS and biochar deployment

Designing activated mineral biochar composites for the adsorption and degradation of emerging contaminants

The emergence of micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals in wastewaters presents a potential risk for human health as well as the aquatic environment. Current wastewater treatment plants are generally not capable of removing these pollutants without additional treatment steps. Adsorption on activated carbon is an effective way to remove these contaminants, however, the use of non-renewable feedstocks as well as low regeneration efficiencies increase the environmental costs of this method1. Biochar as an alternative carbon platform material can be specifically designed to overcome these drawbacks2. This study is aimed at designing activated mineral biochar composites with enhanced adsorption capacity for pharmaceuticals while simultaneously increasing its regeneration performance. Two standard biochars from the UK Biochar Research Centre produced at 550°C from softwood and wheat straw were activated in CO2 at 800°C. Mineral biochar composites were produced by the addition of ochre – a Fe-rich mining waste - in a wet mixing step prior to pyrolysis for both feedstocks. The activated biochars were analysed for their maximum adsorption capacity for two common micropollutants. Furthermore, to test their regeneration performance, the biochars were loaded with a mix of 10 pharmaceuticals covering antibiotics, fungicides and antidepressants. The loaded biochars were then subjected to a high pressure treatment in a hydrothermal reactor at temperatures ranging from 160 to 320°C to determine the degradation rate of pharmaceuticals loaded on the different materials. Hydrothermal treatment was found to successfully degrade the micropollutants across all biochars. The mineral biochar composites showed increased pollutant degradation, lowering the necessary treatment temperature to achieve full decontamination. The results show that while designing biochar for certain applications, a simultaneous focus on both the application as well as the regeneration of the material can give a more comprehensive picture of the overall requirements for further optimisation of biochar adsorbents. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Hydrothermal recycling of activated biochar

Emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals are of increasing concern in wastewaters. Carbon materials such as activated carbons prove to be effective filter materials for the removal of these pollutants, but regeneration of the adsorbents is necessary to improve their economic efficiency. However, common thermal regeneration methods using dry adsorbents and high treatment temperatures are expensive and hinder large scale applications in wastewater treatment plants 1. Novel adsorbents such as biochars are seen as an alternative due to their lower production costs 2. However, considering their generally lower adsorption capacity, costly regeneration will abolish the initial economic advantage of biochar. In contrast to fully regenerating the original adsorptive properties, we argue that a recycling step to prepare biochar for different subsequent applications can produce a higher value product. In this study we propose a method using hydrothermal treatment to decontaminate activated biochars. Two standard biochars from the UK Biochar Research Centre produced at 550°C from softwood and wheat straw were activated in CO2 at 800°C. Additionally, the same raw feedstocks were mixed with 5% Ochre, pyrolyzed and activated at the same conditions to produce two activated mineral biochar composites. The biochars were loaded with 10 pharmaceuticals commonly found in wastewaters and decontaminated in a hydrothermal reactor at temperatures ranging from 160 to 320°C for 4 hours at autogenic pressure. To avoid catalytic effects from the reactor walls, a novel experimental design based on standard borosilicate test tubes was developed. The sample is placed into a test tube, filled with water, flame sealed and placed into a hydrothermal reactor. The outer reactor is filled to the same level as the sample tube to counterpressure the glass and avoid bursting during the experiment. With this set-up, an inert and disposable reactor liner ensures comparable reaction conditions between runs and eliminates potential cross contamination. After the hydrothermal treatment, the biochars as well as the process water were analyzed by LC-MS/MS for remaining pharmaceuticals. Hydrothermal treatment was found to fully degrade 8 out of 10 investigated pharmaceuticals at a treatment temperature of 200°C, with almost complete degradation of the remaining pharmaceuticals at 320°C. The results show that hydrothermal treatment has the potential to recycle activated biochar and enable its use in subsequent applications such as gas filtration systems for the removal of H2S or as an additive for increased gas production in anaerobic digestion plants. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Hydrothermal recycling of carbon absorbents loaded with emerging wastewater contaminants

Adsorption using carbon materials is one of the most efficient techniques for removal of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals from wastewater. However, high costs are a major hurdle for their large-scale application in areas currently under economic constraints. While most research focuses on decreasing the adsorbent price by increasing its capacity, treatment costs for exhausted adsorbents and their respective end-of-life scenarios are often neglected. Here, we assessed a novel technique for recycling of exhausted activated biochars based on hydrothermal treatment at temperatures of 160–320 °C. While a treatment temperature of 280 °C was sufficient to fully degrade all 10 evaluated pharmaceuticals in solution, when adsorbed on activated biochars certain compounds were shielded and could not be fully decomposed even at the highest treatment temperature tested. However, the use of engineered biochar doped with Fe-species successfully increased the treatment efficiency, resulting in full degradation of all 10 parent compounds at 320 °C. The proposed recycling technique showed a high carbon retention in biochar with only minor losses, making the treatment a viable candidate for environmentally sound recycling of biochars. Recycled biochars displayed potentially beneficial structural changes ranging from an increased mesoporosity to additional oxygen bearing functional groups, providing synergies for subsequent applications as part of a sequential biochar system

Adapted Acoustic CR Neuromodulation in Patients With Chronic Tonal Tinnitus and Hearing Loss

Chronic tonal tinnitus is often accompanied by sensorineural hearing loss which is associated with altered tuning curves and bandwidth of alternating masking. In this feasibility study the so-called hearing threshold adapted coordinated reset (HTA-CR) neuromodulation was investigated. This method is based on CR neuromodulation, which has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for chronic tonal tinnitus. It applies four stimulation tones that are determined by the patient's individual tinnitus frequency and hearing impairment. The HTA-CR neuromodulation was programmed to the Desyncra™ for Tinnitus Therapy System and treatment was applied to 25 patients for 4 months on average and 4 h daily. Regular check-ups were done every 4–6 weeks. Therapy outcome was assessed by the tinnitus questionnaire (Tinnitusfragebogen, TF) as per Goebel and Hiller. After 4 months the mean TF score was reduced by 27.4%. A reduction of ≥ 15 points was found in 40% of the patients while for further 32% of the patients a reduction of 6–14 points was found. Thus, a positive response rate of 72% was observed after 4 months of HTA-CR neuromodulation. Our results suggest that HTA-CR neuromodulation might be at least comparable to standard CR neuromodulation providing another effective therapeutic option for the treatment of chronic tonal tinnitus

Physical and mechanical properties of pyrolyzed pellets

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Removal of contaminants of emerging concern from multicomponent systems using carbon dioxide activated biochar from lignocellulosic feedstocks

Adsorption of six contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – caffeine, chloramphenicol, carbamazepine, bisphenol A, diclofenac, and triclosan – from a multicomponent solution was studied using activated biochars obtained from three lignocellulosic feedstocks: wheat straw, softwood, and peach stones. Structural parameters related to the porosity and ash content of activated biochar and the hydrophobic properties of the CECs were found to influence the adsorption efficiency. For straw and softwood biochar, activation resulted in a more developed mesoporosity, whereas activation of peach stone biochar increased only the microporosity. The most hydrophilic CECs studied, caffeine and chloramphenicol, displayed the highest adsorption (22.8 and 11.3 mg g−1) onto activated wheat straw biochar which had the highest ash content of the studied adsorbents (20 wt%). Adsorption of bisphenol A and triclosan, both relatively hydrophobic substances, was highest (31.6 and 30.2 mg g−1) onto activated biochar from softwood, which displayed a well-developed mesoporosity and low ash content