Hotspots of land use change in Europe

Die Zweitveröffentlichung der Publikation wurde durch Studierende des Projektseminars "Open Access Publizieren an der HU" im Sommersemester 2017 betreut. Nachgenutzt gemäß den CC-Bestimmungen des Lizenzgebers bzw. einer im Dokument selbst enthaltenen CC-Lizenz.Assessing changes in the extent and management intensity of land use is crucial to understanding land-system dynamics and their environmental and social outcomes. Yet, changes in the spatial patterns of land management intensity, and thus how they might relate to changes in the extent of land uses, remains unclear for many world regions.Wecompiled and analyzed high-resolution, spatiallyexplicit land-use change indicators capturing changes in both the extent and management intensity of cropland, grazing land, forests, and urban areas for all of Europe for the period 1990–2006. Based on these indicators, we identified hotspots of change and explored the spatial concordance of area versus intensity changes.Wefound a clear East–West divide with regard to agriculture, with stronger cropland declines and lower management intensity in the East compared to the West. Yet, these patterns were not uniform and diverging patterns of intensification in areas highly suitable for farming, and disintensification and cropland contraction in more marginal areas emerged. Despite the moderate overall rates of change, many regions in Europe fell into at least one land-use change hotspot during 1990–2006, often related to a spatial reorganization of land use (i.e., co-occurring area decline and intensification or co-occurring area increase and disintensification). Our analyses highlighted the diverse spatial patterns and heterogeneity of land-use changes in Europe, and the importance of jointly considering changes in the extent and management intensity of land use, as well as feedbacks among land-use sectors. Given this spatial differentiation of land-use change, and thus its environmental impacts, spatially-explicit assessments of land-use dynamics are important for context-specific, regionalized land-use policy making.Peer Reviewe

Nanoconfined 2LiBH4eMgH2eTiCl3 in carbon aerogel scaffold for reversible hydrogen storage

Nanoconfinement of 2LiBH4–MgH2–TiCl3 in resorcinol–formaldehyde carbon aerogel scaffold (RF–CAS) for reversible hydrogen storage applications is proposed. RF–CAS is encapsulated with approximately 1.6 wt. % TiCl3 by solution impregnation technique, and it is further nanoconfined with bulk 2LiBH4–MgH2 via melt infiltration. Faster dehydrogenation kinetics is obtained after TiCl3 impregnation, for example, nanoconfined 2LiBH4–MgH2–TiCl3 requires ∼1 and 4.5 h, respectively, to release 95% of the total hydrogen content during the 1st and 2nd cycles, while nanoconfined 2LiBH4–MgH2 (∼2.5 and 7 h, respectively) and bulk material (∼23 and 22 h, respectively) take considerably longer. Moreover, 95–98.6% of the theoretical H2 storage capacity (3.6–3.75 wt. % H2) is reproduced after four hydrogen release and uptake cycles of the nanoconfined 2LiBH4–MgH2–TiCl3. The reversibility of this hydrogen storage material is confirmed by the formation of LiBH4 and MgH2 after rehydrogenation using FTIR and SR-PXD techniques, respectively.Fil: Gosalawit Utke, Rapee. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; Alemania. Suranaree University of Technology; TailandiaFil: Milanese, Chiara. Università degli studi di Pavia; ItaliaFil: Javadian, Payam. University Aarhus; DinamarcaFil: Jepsen, Julian. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; AlemaniaFil: Laipple, Daniel. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; AlemaniaFil: Karmi, Fahim. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; AlemaniaFil: Puszkiel, Julián Atilio. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Jensen, Torben R.. University Aarhus; DinamarcaFil: Marini, Amedeo. Università degli studi di Pavia; ItaliaFil: Klassen, Thomas. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; AlemaniaFil: Dornheim, Martin. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht; Alemani

Sorption behavior of the MgH2-Mg2FeH6 hydride storage system synthesized by mechanical milling followed by sintering

The hydrogen sorption behavior of the Mg2FeH6eMgH2hydride system is investigated via in-situ synchrotron and laboratory powder X-ray diffraction (SR-PXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size distribution (PSD) and volumetric techniques. The Mg2FeH6eMgH2 hydride system is obtained by mechanical milling in argon atmosphere followed by sintering at high temperature and hydrogen pressure. In-situ SR-PXD results show that upon hydriding MgH2 is a precursor for Mg2FeH6 formation and remained as hydrided phase in the obtained material. Diffusion constraints preclude the further formation of Mg2FeH6. Upon dehydriding, our results suggest that MgH2 and Mg2FeH6 decompose independently in a narrow temperature range between 275 and 300 C. Moreover, the decomposition behavior of both hydrides in the Mg2FeH6eMgH2 hydride mixture is influenced by each other via dual synergetic-destabilizing effects. The final hydriding/dehydriding products and therefore the kinetic behavior of the Mg2FeH6eMgH2 hydride system exhibits a strong dependence on the temperature and pressure conditions.Fil: Puszkiel, Julián Atilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; ArgentinaFil: Gennari, Fabiana Cristina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Gerencia de Area de Aplicaciones de la Tecnologia Nuclear. Gerencia de Investigacion Aplicada; . Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Arneodo Larochette, Pierre Paul. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Gerencia de Area de Aplicaciones de la Tecnologia Nuclear. Gerencia de Investigacion Aplicada; . Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Karimi, Fahim. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; AlemaniaFil: Pistidda, Claudio. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; AlemaniaFil: Gosalawit Utke, Rapee. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; Alemania. Suranaree University of Technology. Institute of Science, School of Chemistry; TailandiaFil: Jepsen, Julian. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; AlemaniaFil: Jensen, Torben R.. University of Aarhu. Center for Energy Materials, iNANO and Department of Chemistry; DinamarcaFil: Gundlach, Carsten. Lund University. MAX-lab; SuizaFil: Bellosta von Colbe, José. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; AlemaniaFil: Klassen, Thomas. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; AlemaniaFil: Dornheim, Martin. Materials Technology. Institute of Materials Research; Alemani

Complex hydrides for hydrogen storage - New perspectives

Since the 1970s, hydrogen has been considered as a possible energy carrier for the storage of renewable energy. The main focus has been on addressing the ultimate challenge: eveloping an environmentally friendly successor for gasoline. This very ambitious goal has not yet been fully reached, as discussed in this review, but a range of new lightweight hydrogen-ontaining materials has been discovered with fascinating properties. State-of-the-art and future perspectives for hydrogen-containing solids will be discussed, with a focus on metal borohydrides, which reveal significant structural flexibility and may have a range of new interesting properties combined with very high hydrogen densities

Effect of an Electron-phonon Interaction on the One-electron Spectral Weight of a d-wave Superconductor

We analyze the effects of an electron-phonon interaction on the one-electron spectral weight A(k,omega) of a d_{x^2-y^2} superconductor. We study the case of an Einstein phonon mode with various momentum-dependent electron-phonon couplings and compare the structure produced in A(k,omega) with that obtained from coupling to the magnetic pi-resonant mode. We find that if the strength of the interactions are adjusted to give the same renormalization at the nodal point, the differences in A(k,omega) are generally small but possibly observable near k=(pi,0).Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures (color versions of Figs. 2,4,10,11,12 available upon request

Atrophin proteins: an overview of a new class of nuclear receptor corepressors

The normal development and physiological functions of multicellular organisms are regulated by complex gene transcriptional networks that include myriad transcription factors, their associating coregulators, and multiple chromatin-modifying factors. Aberrant gene transcriptional regulation resulting from mutations among these elements often leads to developmental defects and diseases. This review article concentrates on the Atrophin family proteins, including vertebrate Atrophin-1 (ATN1), vertebrate arginine-glutamic acid dipeptide repeats protein (RERE), and Drosophila Atrophin (Atro), which we recently identified as nuclear receptor corepressors. Disruption of Atrophin-mediated pathways causes multiple developmental defects in mouse, zebrafish, and Drosophila, while an aberrant form of ATN1 and altered expression levels of RERE are associated with neurodegenerative disease and cancer in humans, respectively. We here provide an overview of current knowledge about these Atrophin proteins. We hope that this information on Atrophin proteins may help stimulate fresh ideas about how this newly identified class of nuclear receptor corepressors aids specific nuclear receptors and other transcriptional factors in regulating gene transcription, manifesting physiological effects, and causing diseases

Genetic randomization reveals functional relationships among morphologic and tissue-quality traits that contribute to bone strength and fragility

We examined femora from adult AXB/BXA recombinant inbred (RI) mouse strains to identify skeletal traits that are functionally related and to determine how functional interactions among these traits contribute to genetic variability in whole-bone stiffness, strength, and toughness. Randomization of A/J and C57BL/6J genomic regions resulted in each adult male and female RI strain building mechanically functional femora by assembling unique sets of morphologic and tissue-quality traits. A correlation analysis was conducted using the mean trait values for each RI strain. A third of the 66 correlations examined were significant, indicating that many bone traits covaried or were functionally related. Path analysis revealed important functional interactions among bone slenderness, cortical thickness, and tissue mineral density. The path coefficients describing these functional relations were similar for both sexes. The causal relationship among these three traits suggested that cellular processes during growth simultaneously regulate bone slenderness, cortical thickness, and tissue mineral density so that the combination of traits is sufficiently stiff and strong to satisfy daily loading demands. A disadvantage of these functional interactions was that increases in tissue mineral density also deleteriously affected tissue ductility. Consequently, slender bones with high mineral density may be stiff and strong but they are also brittle. Thus, genetically randomized mouse strains revealed a basic biological paradigm that allows for flexibility in building bones that are functional for daily activities but that creates preferred sets of traits under extreme loading conditions. Genetic or environmental perturbations that alter these functional interactions during growth would be expected to lead to loss of function and suboptimal adult bone quality

Towards the prevention of acute lung injury: a population based cohort study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acute lung injury (ALI) is an example of a critical care syndrome with limited treatment options once the condition is fully established. Despite improved understanding of pathophysiology of ALI, the clinical impact has been limited to improvements in supportive treatment. On the other hand, little has been done on the prevention of ALI. Olmsted County, MN, geographically isolated from other urban areas offers the opportunity to study clinical pathogenesis of ALI in a search for potential prevention targets.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>In this population-based observational cohort study, the investigators identify patients at high risk of ALI using the prediction model applied within the first six hours of hospital admission. Using a validated system-wide electronic surveillance, Olmsted County patients at risk are followed until ALI, death or hospital discharge. Detailed in-hospital (second hit) exposures and meaningful short and long term outcomes (quality-adjusted survival) are compared between ALI cases and high risk controls matched by age, gender and probability of developing ALI. Time sensitive biospecimens are collected for collaborative research studies. Nested case control comparison of 500 patients who developed ALI with 500 matched controls will provide an adequate power to determine significant differences in common hospital exposures and outcomes between the two groups.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This population-based observational cohort study will identify patients at high risk early in the course of disease, the burden of ALI in the community, and the potential targets for future prevention trials.</p