The Amending Clause in the New York Constitution and Conventionphobia

The amending clause is the nineteenth of the New York State Constitution’s twenty articles. Followed only by the enacting clause, for all intents and purposes this is the document’s final word. Well, maybe not the final word. An alternative is to think of this amending clause as a part of an ongoing several-centuries-long conversation. The clause is a message from one past group of designers and drafters of New York’s governing system, the 1846 Constitutional Convention majority, to all of us who gave them the charge to “secure [for us] the blessings of freedom,” that is to “we the people” of New York

Mapping Europe into local climate zones

Cities are major drivers of environmental change at all scales and are especially at risk from the ensuing effects, which include poor air quality, flooding and heat waves. Typically, these issues are studied on a city-by-city basis owing to the spatial complexity of built landscapes, local topography and emission patterns. However, to ensure knowledge sharing and to integrate local-scale processes with regional and global scale modelling initiatives, there is a pressing need for a world-wide database on cities that is suited for environmental studies. In this paper we present a European database that has a particular focus on characterising urbanised landscapes. It has been derived using tools and techniques developed as part of the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) project, which has the goal of acquiring and disseminating climate-relevant information on cities worldwide. The European map is the first major step toward creating a global database on cities that can be integrated with existing topographic and natural land-cover databases to support modelling initiatives

Optimal Control of Algae Biofilm Growth in Wastewater Treatment Using Computational Mathematical Models

Microalgal biofilms are comprised of a syntrophic consortium of microalgae and other microorganisms embedded within an extracellular matrix. Despite significant processes in the application of microalgal biofilms in wastewater treatment, mechanistic understanding and optimization of microalgal biomass yield and productivity under environmental constraints is still lacking. This paper identifies theoretical insights on this challenging biological problem by leveraging novel mathematical and computational tools. In particular, through a computational mathematical model to advance the understanding of microalgal biofilm growth kinetics under environmental constraints through a systematic parameter study. Moreover, design of algae biofilm reactors for optimal biomass yield and productivity in wastewater treatment under different environments is explored. The proposed model could be further calibrated to generate reliable predictions that can improve the design, operation, and management of microalgal biofilms in wastewater treatment

A Framework for the Valuation of Loss of a Commercial Opportunity

This thesis examines the valuation of loss of a commercial opportunity in a damages context. The object of the thesis is to consider the legal doctrine of loss of a commercial opportunity and to develop a general legal framework for the valuation of this type of loss, that is based on, and consistent with, the financial theory of valuation. This framework rests on the argument that, in principle, the loss of a commercial opportunity should be valued by reference to its market value, where market value is either observable or estimated theoretically. The thesis comprises three main Parts. Part one examines two things by way of introduction. First, it examines the role of financial valuation theory in the assessment of damages for economic loss in a commercial context. Secondly, it examines the legal doctrine of loss of a commercial opportunity. The object of this Part is to provide the foundation for the analysis contained in Parts two and three. Part two examines the legal principles relevant to the fact, character and valuation of loss of a commercial opportunity. The object of this Part is to analyse the legal principles and to develop a general legal framework for the valuation of this type of loss. Part three contains a case study. The case study applies the valuation framework developed in Parts one and two to the valuation of the loss of a lending opportunity, being a particular type of loss of commercial opportunity. The object of the case study is to demonstrate the utility of the valuation framework and, more generally, to demonstrate the importance of finance theory in providing a coherent and rigourous theoretical framework with which to value the loss of a commercial opportunity

An Integrated Experimental and Modeling Approach to Design Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactors (RABRs) Via Optimizing Algae Biofilm Productivity, Nutrient Recovery, and Energy Efficiency

Microalgae biofilms have been demonstrated to recover nutrients from wastewater and serve as biomass feedstock for bioproducts. However, there is a need to develop a platform to quantitatively describe microalgae biofilm production, which can provide guidance and insights for improving biomass areal productivity and nutrient uptake efficiency. This paper proposes a unified experimental and theoretical framework to investigate algae biofilm growth on a rotating algae biofilm reactor (RABR). The experimental laboratory setups are used to conduct controlled experiments on testing environmental and operational factors for RABRs. We propose a differential-integral equation-based mathematical model for microalgae biofilm cultivation guided by laboratory experimental findings. The predictive mathematical model development is coordinated with laboratory experiments of biofilm areal productivity associated with ammonia and inorganic phosphorus uptake by RABRs. The unified experimental and theoretical tool is used to investigate the effects of RABR rotating velocity, duty cycle, and light intensity on algae biofilm growth, areal productivity, nutrient uptake efficiency, and energy efficiency in wastewater treatment. Our framework indicates that maintaining a reasonable light intensity range results in better biomass areal productivity and nutrient uptake efficiency. Our framework also indicates that faster RABR rotation benefits biomass areal productivity. However, maximizing the nutrient uptake efficiency requires a reasonably low RABR rotating speed. Meanwhile, energy efficiency is strongly correlated with RABR rotating speed and duty cycle. Following these developments, we then extend our model to become a partial differential equation (PDE) based model that takes into consideration the spatial heterogeneity present in the reactor, by incorporating the spatial resolution of the substratum on which the algae biofilm grows within the RABR. In the proposed model extension, we conduct an extensive series of numerical simulations to better understand algae biofilm growth in an outdoor setting. Our primary focus in these simulations is to investigate the impact of various harvesting strategies and frequencies on the overall biomass productivity of the algae biofilm. Our model and numerical results provide valuable insights into optimizing algae biofilm growth and harvesting techniques in RABR systems in the context of a heterogeneous system

Nutrient Loading Reduction In A Tile Drained Agricultural Watershed Through Watershed-Scale Cover Cropping: A High Resolution Analysis

Nutrient pollution originating from agricultural regions in the Midwest is a serious issue, leading to pollution of drinking water sources as well as large hypoxic zones in the Gulf of Mexico. The source of much of this contamination has been shown to be runoff from agricultural fields in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. One method that has been shown to reduce this pollution from the Upper Mississippi River Basin is the planting of winter cover crops. Winter cover crops such as rye and tillage radish have been shown to significantly reduce nitrate exported from agricultural fields, even in tile-drained watersheds that are resistant to other nitrate management methods such as riparian zones. However, most studies take place in small agricultural study fields, where planting and fertilization is tightly controlled. There is also a lack of studies looking at the effectiveness of cover cropping in reducing phosphorus export. In this study, we looked at the effectiveness of winter cover crops in reducing nitrate and total phosphorus (TP) loading from tile- drained agricultural watersheds in Central Illinois. We compared nitrate loading from two agricultural watersheds that were 445 ha and 312 ha, one of which was 54% planted with cover crops in fall 2015 and fall 2016 while the other was left fallow. We used discharge probes and automatic sampling systems to capture high temporal resolution discharge and concentration data from tile drains draining each watershed, and using these measurements we compared nitrate and TP loading. We found no noticeable pattern of nitrate or TP reduction in spring 2016, despite that period having the greatest total cover crop biomass. However, in the fall 2016 cover cropping period, there was a pattern of reduced nitrate loading at our treatment site relative to the loading at our reference site. This appears to be due to a statistically significant (p=5.045x10-9)reduction in discharge at the treatment site relative to the reference site during the fall 2016 cover cropping period. Nitrate loading reduction was particularly strong during periods of storm flow. The effects of cover cropping in fall 2016 were more mixed when it came to TP loading. There was a lesser percentage of TP that occurred during storm events at our treatment site during this period, but there was not a significant change (p=.0522) in TP loading relative to the reference site when incorporating baseflow. Further data is needed to define the TP loading patterns, and to more solidly establish the pattern of nitrate loading reduction

Executive Orders: Promoting Democracy and Openness in New York State Government

This joint report outlines 11 executive actions Gov. Andrew Cuomo can take to open up New York State government, increase the accountability of state agencies and reduce barriers to voting. The orders are centered on the basic goal of empowering the citizenry with more and better information about what its government is doing, and how it is spending tax payer dollars

Author Correction: Task-dependent representations of stimulus and choice in mouse parietal cortex.

In the original version of this Article, the Acknowledgements section was inadvertently omitted. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article