Prevention of groundwater wells from salinization by subsurface dams: A 2d numerical modelling approach

Eine anhaltende Salzwasserintrusion bei Sullurpeta (Andhra Pradesh, Indien) führte zur Versalzung der Haupttrinkwasserfassungen der Region und beeinträchtigte die regionale Wasserversorgung. Die installierten Versorgungsbrunnen sind überwiegend im Flussbett des Kalangi verfiltert. Im Jahr 2005 wurden entsprechende Abwehrmaßnahmen implementiert, welche zu einer nachhaltigen Reduzierung der Salzgehalte in den Fassungsanlagen führte. Mit Hilfe eines numerischen, dichtegekoppelten 2-D Grundwassermodells wurde die Implementierung einer hydraulischen Barriere (unterirdischer Damm) zur Abwehr einströmender salzhaltiger Wassermassen reproduziert und entsprechende Maßnahmen hinsichtlich ihrer Langfristwirkung auf das hydrogeologische System simuliert. Dafür wurde ein für die Zielregion typisches hydrogeologisches Profil in ein Finite-Elemente Modell überführt. Die Simulation der ergriffenen hydraulischen Maßnahmen bestätigt eine erfolgreiche und nachhaltige Funktionsweise des unterirdischen Damms zur Unterbindung der Salzwasserintrusion. Weitere numerische Untersuchungen wurden hinsichtlich der hydraulischen Durchlässigkeit von möglichen und für die Dammkonstruktion geeigneten Sedimenten unternommen. Auch wurden verschiedene Brunnenförderszenarien hinsichtlich ihres Einfluss auf die Qualität von den geförderten Wassermassen simuliert und dienen damit der Optimierung der hydraulischen Maßnahme.Onward saltwater intrusion into the freshwater resources in the area of Sullurpeta (Andhra Pradesh, India) led to a major salinization problem of local ground water wells and impaired the quality of extracted freshwater water volumes regionally. The installed production wells are mainly tapping the riverbed sediments of the Kalangi River. In the year 2005, technical measures for the reduction and long-term prevention of high salinization levels were installed successfully. The implementation of a subsurface dam was simulated regarding its hydraulic effectiveness based on a 2-D density-driven groundwater flow model. Additionally, further supporting technical measures were modelled for optimization reasons. Here, the numerical 2-D model reflects a characteristic riverbed/aquifer sequence of the study area. The numerical reproduction of installed hydraulic measures states a successful and sustainable implementation of the subsurface dam with respect to various production scenarios. In addition, further simulations were carried out to evaluate the influence of variable permeabilities of available natural construction materials (sediments) on the effectiveness of the hydraulic barrier

Instrumentos de política para promover a eletromobilidade no Brasil

O Brasil não apresenta os impulsos e motivações que levaram outros países a estabelecer políticas para a eletromobilidade, pois há outras particularidades em sua matriz energética que dispersam esforços no sentido da eletrificação veicular. Este artigo busca colaborar para o estabelecimento de um modelo de eletrificação de veículos no país, que já são uma realidade hoje e, podem chegar a 6 milhões de veículos em 2030. Uma revisão dos principais instrumentos de política para a mobilidade é executada envolvendo os aspectos de produção, desenvolvimento tecnológico, infraestrutura e consumo. Este artigo colabora para o estabelecimento de um modelo de eletrificação de veículos no Brasil, estabelecendo os principais stakeholders do processo e propondo ações, principalmente do Estado, nas esferas federal, estadual e municipal, que podem impactar no processo. Os stakeholders devem ser incentivados por incentivos fiscais ou subsídios de forma a vencer a inércia do mercado, ofertando uma infraestrutura e estimulando o consumo. As montadoras, por sua vez, oferecerão os modelos de veículos que a política brasileira determinar.Brazil does not present the impulses and motivations that led other countries to establish policies for electric mobility, as there are other peculiarities in its energy matrix that disperse efforts towards vehicular electrification. This article seeks to collaborate in establishing a vehicle electrification model in Brazil, which is already a reality today, and can reach 6 million vehicles by 2030. A review of the main policy instruments for mobility is performed involving the production, technological development, infrastructure and consumption aspects. This article contributes to the establishment of a vehicle electrification model in Brazil, establishing the main stakeholders of the process and proposing actions, mainly from the State, in the federal, state and municipal spheres, that can impact the model. Stakeholders should be encouraged by tax incentives or subsidies in order to overcome market inertia, provide infrastructure and stimulate consumption. The automakers, in turn, will offer the vehicle models that Brazilian policy will determine

Regional variability in peatland burning at mid- to high-latitudes during the Holocene

Acknowledgements This work developed from the PAGES (Past Global Changes) C-PEAT (Carbon in Peat on EArth through Time) working group. PAGES has been supported by the US National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences. We acknowledge the following financial support: UK Natural Environment Research Council Training Grants NE/L002574/1 (T.G.S.) and NE/S007458/1 (R.E.F.); Dutch Foundation for the Conservation of Irish Bogs, Quaternary Research Association and Leverhulme Trust RPG-2021-354 (G.T.S); the Academy of Finland (M.V); PAI/SIA 80002 and FONDECYT Iniciación 11220705 - ANID, Chile (C.A.M.); R20F0002 (PATSER) ANID Chile (R.D.M.); Swedish Strategic Research Area (SRA) MERGE (ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system) (M.J.G.); Polish National Science Centre Grant number NCN 2018/29/B/ST10/00120 (K.A.); Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 19-14-00102 (Y.A.M.); University of Latvia Grant No. AAp2016/B041/Zd2016/AZ03 and the Estonian Science Council grant PRG323 (TrackLag) (N.S. and A.M.); U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Science/Climate Research & Development Program (M.J., L.A., and D.W.); German Research Foundation (DFG), grant MA 8083/2-1 (P.M.) and grant BL 563/19-1 (K.H.K.); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), grant no. 57044554, Faculty of Geosciences, University of Münster, and Bavarian University Centre for Latin America (BAYLAT) (K.H.K). Records from the Global Charcoal Database supplemented this work and therefore we would like to thank the contributors and managers of this open-source resource. We also thank Annica Greisman, Jennifer Shiller, Fredrik Olsson and Simon van Bellen for contributing charcoal data to our analyses. Any use of trade, firm, or product name is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Peer reviewedPostprin

Performing a myth to make a market:The construction of the ‘magical world’ of Santa

If you believe in Santa, do not read this paper. Through an in-depth, qualitative, empirical study, we follow the Santa myth to a remote northern location in Lapland, Finland where, for 1 month a year, multiple actors come together to create a tourist market offering: the chance to visit Santa in his ‘magical world’. We explore how the myth is transformed into reality through performative, organisational speech acts, whereby felicitous conditions for the performance of visits to Santa are embedded in a complex socio-material network. We develop the performative turn (Gond et al., 2016) in organisational studies by introducing a new category of speech act, ‘translocution’, a compendium of imagining, discussing, proposing, negotiating, and contracting that transforms the myth into a model of an imaginary-real world. Through translocutionary acts, actors calculate, organise the socio-material networks of the market, and manage the considerable uncertainty inherent in its operation. Details of the myth become market facts, while commercial constructs fade into the imaginary. The result, when felicitous conditions are achieved, is a ‘Merry Christmas’ of magical, performative power

Pathway-Based Analysis of a Melanoma Genome-Wide Association Study: Analysis of Genes Related to Tumour-Immunosuppression

Systemic immunosuppression is a risk factor for melanoma, and sunburn-induced immunosuppression is thought to be causal. Genes in immunosuppression pathways are therefore candidate melanoma-susceptibility genes. If variants within these genes individually have a small effect on disease risk, the association may be undetected in genome-wide association (GWA) studies due to low power to reach a high significance level. Pathway-based approaches have been suggested as a method of incorporating a priori knowledge into the analysis of GWA studies. In this study, the association of 1113 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 43 genes (39 genomic regions) related to immunosuppression have been analysed using a gene-set approach in 1539 melanoma cases and 3917 controls from the GenoMEL consortium GWA study. The association between melanoma susceptibility and the whole set of tumour-immunosuppression genes, and also predefined functional subgroups of genes, was considered. The analysis was based on a measure formed by summing the evidence from the most significant SNP in each gene, and significance was evaluated empirically by case-control label permutation. An association was found between melanoma and the complete set of genes (pemp = 0.002), as well as the subgroups related to the generation of tolerogenic dendritic cells (pemp = 0.006) and secretion of suppressive factors (pemp = 0.0004), thus providing preliminary evidence of involvement of tumour-immunosuppression gene polymorphisms in melanoma susceptibility. The analysis was repeated on a second phase of the GenoMEL study, which showed no evidence of an association. As one of the first attempts to replicate a pathway-level association, our results suggest that low power and heterogeneity may present challenges

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Background: Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. // Methods: We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. // Findings: We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. // Interpretation: Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective

Drawing on relationalism as a theoretical lens, we examine how normative organizing structures, rights and authority relationships influence the cultivation of strategic foresight among organizational members lower down the organizational hierarchy. We adopt a case-based approach involving three software firms, whose innovation teams served as our empirical research sites. Our study highlights the triadic influence of individual, organizational and contextual organizing practices on the cultivation of strategic foresight. We identify four relational assemblages of practices that enable (or impede) the enactment of strategic foresight in practice. These include strategic conversations, perspective taking and reflexivity-in-practice, over-emphasis on formal knowledge and technical rationality, and benevolent conspiracies. We add to research on strategic foresight by extending our understanding of the vital role that lower-level employees may play in the cultivation of organizational ‘foresightfulness’. We therefore urge management advisors to accord lower-level input recognizably respectful consideration, if not adoption