Joint responsibility in the development of effective wind-turbine collision-reducing solutions

With the rapid acceleration of wind energy development there is a growing need to meet the consequences this has for the natural environment. Failing to mitigate environmental impacts is an important cause of conflict in wind energy projects, leading to costly delays in planned wind energy development. It is therefore of the utmost importance to identify effective solutions and measures to reduce such impacts. This requires that the joint responsibility for mitigation across stakeholders is recognized and acted upon. This is exemplified with the blackblade concept that has shown to reduce bird collision rates at the Smøla windpower plant in Norway by 70%. While presented as a “golden bullet” solution in the media, there remain unanswered challenges that need to be addressed. However, instead of disagreeing on the uncertain efficacy elsewhere, I pose that collaborative and transdisciplinary action is needed to jointly resolve remaining challenges and actively seek for solutions to support the sound implementation of promising wind-turbine collision-reducing solutions. wind energy (WE), environmental impact, mitigation measure, sustainable development, bird collision riskpublishedVersio

Effect of human–elephant conflict on local attitudes toward the conservation of wild Asian elephants in Myanmar

The study of attitudes toward wild elephants and human–elephant conflict (HEC) is vital to understanding what attitudes are held by local people and how to incorporate them into wild elephant conservation. This study investigated the interlinkages between the HEC experience and local people’s attitudes toward the conservation of wild elephants and which exploratory factors influence these attitudes. We used a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) framework to highlight the interlinkages between HEC and people’s attitudes. The basic BBN model indicated that HEC was central in determining the attitudes of local people. Although people generally hold positive attitudes toward elephants, people support having elephants in the country but not in their own regions. Conservation willingness was not obvious due to the lack of deliberate assistance from the government to the affected communities. We suggest implementing education programs to promote local awareness of conflict mitigation techniques. Bayesian belief network(BBN); conservation; elephas maximus; human–elephant conflict (HEC); wildlifepublishedVersio

Human–elephant coexistence challenges in Myanmar: An analysis of fatal elephant attacks on humans and elephant mortality

Understanding the underlying causes behind human–elephant conflict (HEC)-driven mortality of humans and elephants will help improve both parties’ wellbeing. The objective of this study was to examine the temporal and spatial mortality patterns of humans and elephants and the influence of local attitudes, conflict factors and habitat factors on elephant poaching. We used the Myanmar Forest Department data from 2001 to 2020 for humans and 2011 to 2020 for elephants together with explanatory data on human attitudes, habitat, and conflict factors. Approximately seven persons were killed annually in elephant attacks, with a bias towards men. The annual mortality of elephants during the study period was on average 16 individuals, and most elephants were killed by humans. There was a significant relationship between the number of killed humans and human-killed elephants around HEC villages. Villages with more property damage exhibited a higher rate of human mortality, which also correlated with negative feelings of local people towards elephants. Elephant poaching was higher in villages with less suitable habitat available for elephant use. Human encroachment is an important cause of HEC, leading to human loss and forming the main threat to the survival of wild elephants. We suggest local involvement to ensure good governance in conflict resolution and mitigation strategies and to strengthen law enforcement. Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) Human–elephant conflict (HEC) Attack Mortality PoachingpublishedVersio

Habitat Utilization in White-Tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) and the Displacement Impact of the Smøla Wind-Power Plant

On average, 7.8 white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) collide with wind turbines annually at the operating wind-power plant on the island of Smøla off the coast of central Norway. To better understand the impact of this wind-power plant on white-tailed eagles, we investigated how habitat utilization affected displacement effects. We collected data on habitat utilization in non-territorial subadult white-tailed eagles using global positioning system satellite telemetry (2004–2009). From these data, we estimated utilization distributions using the Brownian bridge movement model and analyzed them using Resource Utilization Functions. Home ranges were circa 10–30% smaller for subadults hatched on skerries and islets farther from the wind-power plant, and tended to be circa 40% larger during spring. Shallow sea, skerries, and islets were utilized extensively, as was marsh, heathland, and forest on the main island of Smøla. We noted lower selectivity for arable land and higher levels of differentiation in utilization among individuals for forest and islets. Females also had a nearly 4 times higher between-individual variation, which was likely due to longranging excursions. The within- and between-individual variation among seasons showed an annual pattern, with increasing between-individual variation toward summer. Displacement (indicated by an overall 40% proportional reduction in utilization) was more pronounced in the birds’ second and third calendar year compared with their first calendar year, and during autumn–winter. Reduced displacement during spring coincides with the white-tailed eagle pre-breeding period with increased flight activity. This may, in part, explain increased collision risk during spring. Possible displacement effects in white-tailed eagles may be avoided by siting wind-power plants farther inland or offshore, avoidance, collision risk, displacement, habitat use, habitat utilization, Haliaeetus albicilla, Norway,wind turbinesacceptedVersio

CO₂ minimum miscibility pressure determination of pure hydrocarbons in different temperatures using slimtube simulations

As wind energy deployment increases and larger wind-power plants are considered, bird fatalities through collision with moving turbine rotor blades are expected to increase. However, few (cost-) effective deterrent or mitigation measures have so far been developed to reduce the risk of collision. Provision of “passive” visual cues may enhance the visibility of the rotor blades enabling birds to take evasive action in due time. Laboratory experiments have indicated that painting one of three rotor blades black minimizes motion smear (Hodos 2003, Minimization of motion smear: Reducing avian collisions with wind turbines). We tested the hypothesis that painting would increase the visibility of the blades, and that this would reduce fatality rates in situ, at the Smøla wind-power plant in Norway, using a Before–After–Control–Impact approach employing fatality searches. The annual fatality rate was significantly reduced at the turbines with a painted blade by over 70%, relative to the neighboring control (i.e., unpainted) turbines. The treatment had the largest effect on reduction of raptor fatalities; no white-tailed eagle carcasses were recorded after painting. Applying contrast painting to the rotor blades significantly reduced the collision risk for a range of birds. Painting the rotor blades at operational turbines was, however, resource demanding given that they had to be painted while in-place. However, if implemented before construction, this cost will be minimized. It is recommended to repeat this experiment at other sites to ensure that the outcomes are generic at various setting

Triiodothyronine (T3) levels fluctuate in response to ambient temperature rather than nutritional status in a wild tropical ungulate

Animals can employ a range of physiological mechanisms in response to unpredictable changes within their environment, such as changes in food availability and human disturbances. For example, impala exhibit higher faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) levels—indicative of physiological stress—in response to low food quality and higher human disturbance. In this study, we measured faecal triiodothyronine (T3) metabolite (FTM) levels in 446 wild impala from 2016 to 2018 to test the hypothesis that environmental and human disturbances would affect their physiological status. We also validated a faecal thyroid hormone assay. T3 levels mainly regulate metabolic rate and drive thermoregulation—increasing with colder temperatures. We predicted that individuals would have lower FTM levels, indicative of poor physiological status, (i) when food quality was poor, (ii) when ambient temperature (Ta) was high, (iii) in areas of high human disturbance (due to food competition with livestock) and (iv) when FGM levels were high. Interestingly, we found that Ta was the most important predictor of FTM—FTM levels decreased by 70% from lowest to highest Ta—and food quality and human disturbance only influenced FTM levels when Ta was accounted for. FTM levels also tended to increase with increasing FGM levels, opposite our predictions. Our results suggest that food quality and availabilitymay only partially influence FTM levels and that fluctuations in Ta are a significant driver of FTM levels in a wild tropical ungulate. Given that thyroid hormones are primarily responsible for regulating metabolic rate, they may be better indicators of how wild animals metabolically and energetically respond to environmental factors and only indicate poor nutritional status in extreme cases. glucocorticoid, impala, Serengeti, stress, thyroid hormones, validationpublishedVersio

International assessment of priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy development

Non-technical summary. A substantial increase in wind energy deployment worldwide is required to help achieve international targets for decreasing global carbon emissions andlimiting the impacts of climate change. In response to global concerns regarding the environmental effects of wind energy, the International Energy Agency Wind Technical Collaborative Program initiated Task 34 – Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy or WREN. As part of WREN, this study performed an international assessment with the global wind energy and environmental community to determine priority environmental issues over the next 5‒10 years and help support collaborative interactions among researchers, developers, regulators, and stakeholders. Technical summary. A systematic assessment was performed using feedback from the international community to identify priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy development. Given the global nature of wind energy development, feedback was of interest from all countries where such development is underway or planned to help meet United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets. The assessment prioritized environmental issues over the next 5–10 years associated with wind energy development and received a total of 294 responses from 28 countries. For land-based wind, the highest-ranked issues included turbine collision risk for volant species (birds and bats), cumulative effects on species and ecosystems, and indirect effects such as avoidance and displacement. For offshore wind, the highest-ranked issues included cumulative effects, turbine collision risk, underwater noise (e.g. marine mammals and fish), and displacement. Emerging considerations for these priorities include potential application to future technologies (e.g. larger turbines and floating turbines), new stressors and species in frontier regions, and cumulative effects for multiple projects at a regional scale. For both land-based and offshore wind, effectiveness of minimization measures (e.g. detection and deterrence technologies) and costs for monitoring, minimization, and mitigation were identified as overarching challenges. Social media summary. Turbine collisions and cumulative effects among the international environmental priorities for wind energy development. Environmental; turbines; wildlife; wind energyInternational assessment of priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy developmentpublishedVersio

Assessing the effect of sample bias correction in species distribution models

1. Open-source biodiversity databases contain a large number of species occurrence records but are often spatially biased; which affects the reliability of species distribution models based on these records. Sample bias correction techniques require data filtering which comes at the cost of record numbers, or require considerable additional sampling effort. Since independent data is rarely available, assessment of the correction technique often relies solely on performance metrics computed using subsets of the available – biased – data, which may prove misleading. 2. Here, we assess the extent to which an acknowledged sample bias correction technique is likely to improve models’ ability to predict species distributions in the absence of independent data. We assessed variation in model predictions induced by the aforementioned correction and model stochasticity; the variability between model replicates related to a random component (pseudo-absences sets and cross-validation subsets). We present, then, an index of the effect of correction relative to model stochasticity; the Relative Overlap Index (ROI). We investigated whether the ROI better represented the effect of correction than classic performance metrics (Boyce index, cAUC, AUC and TSS) and absolute overlap metrics (Schoener’s D, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients) when considering data related to 64 vertebrate species and 21 virtual species with a generated sample bias. 3. When based on absolute overlaps and cross-validation performance metrics, we found that correction produced no significant effects. When considering its effect relative to model stochasticity, the effect of correction was strong for most species at one of the three sites. The use of virtual species enabled us to verify that the correction technique improved both distribution predictions and the biological relevance of the selected variables at the specific site, when these were not correlated with sample bias patterns. 4. In the absence of additional independent data, the assessment of sample bias correction based on subsample data may be misleading. We propose to investigate both the biological relevance of environmental variables selected, and, the effect of sample bias correction based on its effect relative to model stochasticity. Accessibility maps Cross-validation Performance metrics Overlap Pseudo-absence selection Terrestrial vertebrates Variable selection Virtual speciespublishedVersio

PERANAN PELUKIS ADE MOELYANA DALAM MENGEMBANGKAN SENI LUKIS DARI LIMBAH PELEPAH PISANG DI CIMAHI: (Kajian historis dari tahun 1969-2010)

Skripsi ini berjudul “Peranan Pelukis Ade Moelyana Dalam Mengembangkan Seni Lukis Pelepah Pisang di Cimahi Kajian Historis Tahun 1969-2010”. Permasalahan pokok yang dikaji dalam skripsi ini adalah bagaimana perkembangan seni lukis dari limbah pelepah pisang di Cimahi dari tahun 1969-2010 dan keterkaitannya dengan potensi ekonomi dari seni lukis pelepah pisang yang terabaikan. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode historis yang melalui empat tahap yaitu pengumpulan sumber lisan maupun sumber tertulis, kritik, interpretasi, dan historiografi. Untuk memperdalam analisis, penulis menggunakan pendekatan interdisipliner melalui kajian ilmu sosial dan ilmu ekonomi dengan memakai konsep-konsep seperti interaksi sosial, distribusi, ekonomi kreatif, kewirausahaan, dll. Teknik penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah dengan menggunakan teknik wawancara. Hal ini dilakukan karena terbatasnya sumber tertulis yang mengkaji secara langsung mengenai permasalahan di atas. Berdasarkan hasil temuan di lapangan, seni lukis dari limbah pelepah pisang ini telah ada sejak tahun 1969. Seni lukis ini merupakan seni lukis yang unik karena menggunakan limbah dari pelepah pisang. Pada awal perkembangannya seni lukis ini tidak serta merta dapat diterima oleh masyarakat sekitar, dan barulah pada tahun 2002 seni lukis dari limbah pelepah pisang ini mengalami puncak perkembangan. Pasalnya seni lukis ini tidak hanya dipasarkan di Cimahi saja, melainkan sampai ke mancanegara. Seni lukis dari limbah pelepah pisang ini dapat dijadikan sebagai sektor ekonomi kreatif dan dapat dijadikan sebagai lahan lapangan pekerjaan. Banyak upaya yang dilakukan oleh pelukis untuk mengembangkan seni lukis dari limbah pelepah pisang, selain itu pula pemerintah turut serta dalam mengembangkan seni lukis pelepah pisang. Kata kunci : Seni Lukis Pelepah Pisang, Ekonomi Kreatif, Pemasaran This skripsi titled Ade Moelyama role in developing the art painting of wasted banana leaves in Cimahi of historical studies from 1969 to 2010. The main issue studied in this skripsi was “How Development Art Painting of Wasted Banana Leaves in Cimahi from 1969 to 2010 and linkages with economic potential of art painting of banana leaves neglected. The method used is the historical method through four phases of heuristics, criticism, interpretation and historiography. To deepen the analysis, the author use the approach interdisciplinary through the study of social and economic by using concepts such as social interaction, distribution, creative economy, entrepreneurship, and other. A research technique used in this research is to use interview techniques. This is done because of the limited resources that examines written directly on the above problems. Based on the research results, the art painting of wasted banana leaves has existed since 1969. This painting is a painting that is unique because it uses waste form banan leaves. In the early development of art is not necessarily acceptable to the local community, and then in 2002 the art painting of wasted banana leaves is experiencing the peak development. This is because not only do marketing painting around Cimahi but abroad as well. Painting of wasted banana stalks can be used as a creative economic sector and creates jobs. Lack of awareness of the various parties to make this painting became dormant. Many attempts were made by the painter to develop the art of waste banana leaves, in addition the goverment also participated in the development the art of painting banana leaves. Keywords : Art Painting of Banana Leaves, Creative Economy, Marketin

Particulate matter exposure during pregnancy is associated with birth weight, but not gestational age, 1962-1992: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to air pollutants is suggested to adversely affect fetal growth, but the evidence remains inconsistent in relation to specific outcomes and exposure windows.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using birth records from the two major maternity hospitals in Newcastle upon Tyne in northern England between 1961 and 1992, we constructed a database of all births to mothers resident within the city. Weekly black smoke exposure levels from routine data recorded at 20 air pollution monitoring stations were obtained and individual exposures were estimated via a two-stage modeling strategy, incorporating temporally and spatially varying covariates. Regression analyses, including 88,679 births, assessed potential associations between exposure to black smoke and birth weight, gestational age and birth weight standardized for gestational age and sex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant associations were seen between black smoke and both standardized and unstandardized birth weight, but not for gestational age when adjusted for potential confounders. Not all associations were linear. For an increase in whole pregnancy black smoke exposure, from the 1^st(7.4 μg/m³) to the 25^th(17.2 μg/m³), 50^th(33.8 μg/m³), 75^th(108.3 μg/m³), and 90^th(180.8 μg/m³) percentiles, the adjusted estimated decreases in birth weight were 33 g (SE 1.05), 62 g (1.63), 98 g (2.26) and 109 g (2.44) respectively. A significant interaction was observed between socio-economic deprivation and black smoke on both standardized and unstandardized birth weight with increasing effects of black smoke in reducing birth weight seen with increasing socio-economic disadvantage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings of this study progress the hypothesis that the association between black smoke and birth weight may be mediated through intrauterine growth restriction. The associations between black smoke and birth weight were of the same order of magnitude as those reported for passive smoking. These findings add to the growing evidence of the harmful effects of air pollution on birth outcomes.</p