Aqueous Emission Factors for the Industrial Discharges of Cadmium in the Rhine River Basin in the Period 1970-1990: An Inventory

This report contains an overview of the development of aqueous point source emission factors for cadmium in the Rhine River basin in the period 1970-1988. Based on these emission factors the aqueous emissions of cadmium for different industrial activities in the basin are calculated. For some activities defining emission factors does not make sense, since their cadmium emission is determined by e.g. ore or scrap purchase policy and not by the applied process technology. The overall cadmium emission to the Rhine and to its tributaries is compared with the point source component of in-basin cadmium monitoring data. The results show reasonable agreement. Further study is required to include hydrological characteristics in a tributary-Rhine model, in order to justify the comparison of monitoring data and emission estimates. In the table below, a summary of all the calculated point source emissions in time and per branch is given. A second table provides an overview of the development of emission factors for point source emissions in the Rhine River basin in time

Emission Factors for Aqueous Industrial Cadmium Discharges to the Rhine Basin. A Historical Reconstruction of the Period 1970-1988

The report, by reviewing the relevant literature and synthesizing data on economic technologies, trade, and environmental monitoring, provides an analysis of the aqueous emissions of cadmium from industrial point sources in the Rhine Basin from 1970-1988. The report not only provides valuable input to our study of the Basin, but also demonstrates a methodology by which historical reconstructions of aqueous pollution can be attained and utilized in assessing long-term environmental trends. This historical Rhine Basin study provides a much needed database for further understanding of the institutional, political, and social factors that shaped the pollution landscape in previous decades and led to the remarkable cleanup that has occurred more recently. Such information is urgently needed for guiding policies, particularly in the newly industrialized regions of the world, such as southeast China, and in highly polluted river basins, such as in Eastern Europe

Land Use Change in Europe- Scenarios for a Project Area in East Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic

This study identifies plausible scenarios for land use changes for a project area located at the coexistent borders of Poland, the Czech Republic and East Germany. The time frame is 1992 to 2050 with an intermediate step in 2020. The basis for the scenarios is an analysis of the driving forces for land use change in the context of the study area. The main emphasis here is on the EU's Common Agricultural Policy and trends in agriculture and forestry in the three countries of the project area. In addition former land use change, spread of urban areas, the state of mining areas, recreation and nature conservation and policies related to land use planning are of importance and therefore analyzed for each country. The direction of land use change between 1960 and present was a decrease in agricultural land and an increase in forest and 'other' area, which mainly consists of urban area and area for infrastructure. Recent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy aim at reducing overproduction an cut spending in general. The prevailing tendency is to liberalize the agricultural sector to shift from product tied payments to direct payments to farmers for social, environmental or cultural duties. Since the political changes in 1989 the three countries of the project area have undergone significant economic and structural changes. East Germany as part of Unified Germany and part of the EU has experienced the most drastic restructuring of the agricultural sector with the main feature of major job losses and production decreases, especially in the livestock sector. Similar developments, though not as radical, can be observed in Poland and the Czech Republic. The first Scenario, "Large Scale Increase of Wooded Area", anticipates the introduction of a free market economy to the agricultural sector. No more subsidies are required for agriculture. Large areas of marginal farmland have to be taken out of production. The price of land decreases. Farmers will either afforest their farmland or sell it to non-agricultural uses like urban development, recreation or nature conservation are options for farmers. A quantification for the project area foresees by 2050 a decrease of agricultural land to half of its size in 1992, a doubling of forest and an increase of 'other' area by 80%. Scenario 2, "Alternative Agricultural Products", assumes a shift from food production to nonfood products, mainly biofuel and incentives for an extensification of agricultural production. Subsidies, that are still required for the agricultural sector, will be kept. The overall policy aims at keeping the land open, avoiding uncontrolled spreading of urban development and providing prospect for development and employment in rural areas. The main characteristic of Scenario 3, "Europe as Food Exporter", is an increase in the demand for agricultural products, which by approximately 2010 triggers a increase in the world market price for food products. Reasons for this are population and wealth increase, especially in China an south east Asia, combined with environmental constraints like water or fertile land scarcity and erosion. As a result agricultural production in Europe becomes prosperous in the frame of a free market environment. No further subsidies are required for the sector. Until 2010 the development is similar to Scenario 2. Scenario 2 and 3 show only modest changes in land use patterns, but the agricultural production structure differs. Scenario 2 focuses on a mixture of food and non-food products, while in Scenario 3 all available farmland is used for food production after 2010

Cadmium, Zinc and Lead Load to Agricultural Land in the Upper Oder and Elbe Basins During the Period 1955-1994

This paper presents the results of an analysis on the total load of cadmium, zinc and lead to agricultural soils during the period 1955-1994. Total heavy metal load will serve as input for the soil modeling part of the wider IIASA study on "Regional Material Balance Approaches to Long Term Environmental Planning." The project area embraces the northwestern part of the Czech Republic (Bohemia and Morawia), southwestern Poland (Upper and Lower Silesia), and the south of the former G.D.R. (Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Thueringen). Agricultural soils receive heavy metal via atmospheric deposition and via certain agricultural practices, the most important ones are: P-fertilizer application and manuring. Atmospheric deposition loads were derived from computations within the atmospheric modeling part of the IIASA IND Project. On the basis of a literature search focusing on the countries of the project area heavy metal concentration factors for P-fertilizer and manure were established. The fertilizer and manure application during the study period was derived from diverse statistical sources. The analysis shows the importance of regional differences and of the changes in time. This refers to both, the total load of heavy metals to the soils and the share of agricultural or atmospheric load in total load. The atmospheric load is highest in the 60s or 70s and then shows a downward trend. The highest P-fertilizer and manure application rates are in the 70s or 80s (and consequently the heavy metal load due to these practices is high). After the economic changes in 1989 there is a sharp decline in fertilizer application. The agricultural share in total load is very low in the case of lead, amounting to less than 10% during the whole period. Agricultural share in total load of cadmium and zinc varies considerable over time and shows high regional differences. For cadmium the agricultural share in total load ranges between 10 and 60 percent, in the case of zinc between 30 and 80 percent. A general feature here is, the higher the total load, the higher the share in atmospheric deposition. A preliminary mass balance for cadmium and lead in soils shows possible implications for long-term build up of heavy metals in soils. The release of Cadmium from soils via erosion and leaching contributes as so called diffuse load to total Cadmium load to rivers. The mass balance gives estimates for this diffuse load. Finally sources of uncertainties are discussed. They refer in particular to spatial variations that cannot be traced in this type of analysis. Close to major heavy metal emittents or in areas where uncontrolled sewage sludge application took place, the heavy metal load may be significantly higher than estimated in this study

A coupling matrix vision for mobile filtering devices with micro-acoustic wave technologies. A systematic approach

Con el espectro radioeléctrico cada vez más saturado, los filtros y duplexores son elementos claves de la tecnología en el mercado de dispositivos discretos para la telefonía móvil. El segmento de usuario de los sistemas de comunicaciones inalámbricas aprovecha las destacadas propiedades de los dispositivos filtrantes basados en resonadores acústicos. Generalmente, el diseño de dispositivos de onda acústica ha sido asumido por técnicas de optimización debido a las restrictivas limitaciones impuestas por la viabilidad tecnológica de los resonadores SAW y BAW, así como las exigentes especificaciones eléctricas. Una respuesta de transmisión muy restrictiva y factores tecnológicos muy limitantes conducen a hacer el diseño más y más complejo y una tarea muy desafiante. El objetivo del trabajo está enfocado en facilitar el diseño de filtros/duplexores y hacerlo más eficiente. En consecuencia, la formulación inicial del problema se ha centrado en la viabilidad tecnológica para implementar filtros de onda acústica. Proporcionar una metodología sistemática es útil para acelerar la curva de aprendizaje de nuevos diseñadores. Los filtros de microondas con elevada selectividad son posibles si sus funciones de transferencia incorporan ceros de transmisión finitos. La introducción de nodos no-resonantes (NRN) da la posibilidad de diseñar filtros con el máximo número de ceros de transmisión finitos sin tener que implementar acoplamientos directos entre la fuente y la carga. Además, las configuraciones en línea con NRN permiten la extracción de los elementos analíticamente. La típica configuración de filtro ladder presenta similitudes características de acuerdo con las redes de prototipo en línea con nodos resonantes y no-resonantes, que son las propiedades de modularidad, para controlar los ceros de transmisión con resonadores independientes, y respuestas completamente canonícas sin acoplamiento fuente-carga directo. Los elementos de la red pasobanda son dados por ecuaciones explícitas en términos de aquellos en los prototipos en línea con NRN que pueden ser sintetizados analíticamente. Como consecuencia, es posible definir una metodología de síntesis directa para obtener los parámetros pasobanda eléctricos de un filtro RF general que está basado en resonadores acústicos. Este trabajo presenta una metodología que proporciona un procedimiento de síntesis sistemático para diseñar filtros y duplexores ladder basados en resonadores de onda micro-acústica. La metodología de diseño utiliza un enfoque nodal basado en NRN y nodos resonantes. La representación de la red mediante una matriz de acoplamiento mixta de nodos resonantes y no resonantes es capaz de gestionar de forma eficiente las restricciones tecnológicas. El procedimiento es eficiente en tiempo, preciso en los resultados y proporciona un profundo entendimiento de las particulares interacciones que se producen entre las restricciones tecnológicas y el funcionamiento del dispositivo. Un completo paquete de software, con un simulador rápido, preciso y de fácil uso, ha sido desarrollado, permitiendo obtener diseños de primera etapa exitosos. Como resultado de la metodología sistemática, hemos desarrollado un método de diseño que combina y sistemáticamente gestiona redes filtrantes compuestas de bloques de polo extraído con bloques de resonadores acoplados, es decir, celdas ladder con secciones CRF. Además, la metodología has sido extendida exitosamente para tener en cuenta el diseño de divisores de potencia con respuesta filtrante por medio de dos topologías diferentes: la configuración ladder y las secciones CRF. La metodología propuesta ofrece una solución que combina el completo cumplimiento de las máscaras de espectro con topologías preparadas para acomodar las restricciones tecnológicas de la tecnología micro-acústica. La metodología ha sido desarrollada orientada nativamente a gestionar la tecnología, como es el ajuste de la limitación en el acoplo electromagnético, y basada en fundamentos de síntesis rigurosos.With a spectrum more and more overcrowded, filters and duplexers are drivers of the technology in the discrete device mobile market. The user segment of wireless communication systems takes profit of the outstanding performance of filtering devices based on acoustic resonators. Usually, the design of acoustic wave devices have been mainly entrusted to optimization techniques because the stringent constraints imposed by the technological feasibility of SAW and BAW resonators and the challenging electrical specifications. A stringent transmission response and very restrictive technological factors lead the design to a more and more complex and challenging task. The aim of the work is focused on easing the filters/duplexers designs and making it more efficient. Consequently, the initial formulation of the problem was focused on the technological feasibility of acoustic wave filters. Providing a systematic methodology is useful to accelerate the learning curve of new entrant designers. Microwave filters with high selectivity are possible if their transfer functions incorporates finite transmission zeros. The inclusion of non-resonant nodes gives the possibility of designing filters with the maximum number of finite transmission zeros without implementing direct couplings between source and load. Furthermore, inline configuration with NRN allows the extraction of the elements analytically. The common ladder filter configuration exhibits characteristic similarities regarding inline prototype networks with resonant and non-resonant nodes, which are the property of modularity, to control transmission zeros by independent resonators, and fully canonical response without a direct source-load coupling. The elements of the lowpass prototype are given by explicit equations in terms of those in in-line prototypes with non-resonating nodes that can be synthesized analytically. As a consequence it is possible to define a direct synthesis methodology to obtain the bandpass electric parameters of a general RF filter that is based on acoustic resonators. This work presents a methodology that provides a systematic synthesis procedure for designing ladder filters and duplexers based on acoustic wave resonators. The methodology uses a nodal approach based on resonating and non-resonating nodes. The coupling matrix representation with a mix of different nature nodes, resonant and non-resonant, is able to efficiently manage the technological restrictions. The procedure is time efficient, precise in the outcomes and provides a deep understanding of the particular interactions between technological constraints and device performance. A complete software package with fast, accurate and easy-to-use simulator has been developed, enabling starting point design success. As a result of the systematic methodology, we have developed a design method that combines and systematically manages a filtering network composed of extracted-pole blocks with coupling resonators blocks, so it is ladder cells with CRF sections. Moreover, the methodology has been successfully extended to take into consideration filtering power dividers by means of two different topologies: ladder configuration and CRF sections. The proposed methodology offers a solution that combines a complete spectrum fulfillment with topologies ready to accommodate technological constraints of micro-acoustics technologies. The methodology has been developed natively oriented to manage with the technology, such as accommodating electromechanical coupling constraints, leveraged in rigorous synthesis foundations

Downregulation of miR-99a/let-7c/miR-125b miRNA cluster predicts clinical outcome in patients with unresected malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor with a dismal overall survival (OS) and to date no molecular markers are available to guide patient management. This study aimed to identify a prognostic miRNA signature in MPM patients who did not undergo tumor resection. Whole miRNA profiling using a microarray platform was performed using biopsies on 27 unresected MPM patients with distinct clinical outcome: 15 patients had short survival (OS < 12 months) and 12 patients had long survival (OS > 36 months). Three prognostic miRNAs (mir- 99a, let-7c, and miR-125b) encoded at the same cluster (21q21) were selected for further validation and tested on publicly available miRNA sequencing data from 72 MPM patients with survival data. A risk model was built based on these 3 miRNAs that was validated by quantitative PCR in an independent set of 30 MPM patients. High-risk patients had shorter median OS (7.6 months) as compared with low-risk patients (median not reached). In the multivariate Cox model, a high-risk score was independently associated with shorter OS (HR=3.14; 95% CI, 1.18-8.34; P=0.022). Our study identified that the downregulation of the miR-99a/let-7/miR-125b miRNA cluster predicts poor outcome in unresected MPM

Agronomic performance and transcriptional analysis of carotenoid biosynthesis in fruits of transgenic HighCaro and control tomato lines under field conditions

Genetic manipulation of carotenoid biosynthesis in higher plants has been the objective of a number of biotechnology programs, e.g. the Golden Rice Program. However, tomato (Solanumlycopersicum L.), which naturally accumulates lycopene in fruits, has attracted the attention of many groups who have manipulated it to increase or diversify carotenoid accumulation. One of the most significant achievements was “HighCaro (HC),” a transgenic tomato plant constitutively expressing the tomato lycopene beta-cyclase (tLcy-b), that produces orange fruits due to the complete conversion of lycopene to β-carotene. In this article we report the results of a field trial conducted in Metaponto (Italy) on HC and on two control genotypes to evaluate the stability of the transgenic trait and their yield performances. Transcriptional regulation of eight genes involved in carotenogenesis was assayed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis on fruits collected at four distinct development stages. Statistical analysis results demonstrated that in field conditions the transgene maintained its ability to induce the conversion of lycopene to β-carotene. Moreover, agronomic performances and fruit quality in the transgenic line were not impaired by this metabolic disturbance. Results of qRT-PCR analysis suggested that transcription of PSY-1, PDS and ZDS genes were developmentally regulated in both genotypes. Unexpectedly, Lcy-b expression in transgenic fruits was also developmentally regulated, despite the fact that the gene was driven by a constitutive promoter. Our data provide evidence that in photosynthetic cells a strict and aspecific mechanism controls the level of transcripts until the onset of chromoplasts differentiation, at which point a gene-specific control on transcription takes place

The Shaping of Form: Exploring Designers’ Use of Aesthetic Knowledge

Research on design and designers has emphasized the tacit nature of the aesthetic knowledge that these professionals draw upon to make decisions about formal properties of objects and spaces, but is less clear about how design teams address the difficulties associated with expressing and sharing this type of knowledge. A ten-month ethnography in a design consultancy revealed a range of multimodal and cross-modal ways in which members of a design team compensate their imperfect capacity of articulating verbally their aesthetic knowledge in order to gradually construct a common knowledge base enabling creative collaboration. In so doing, our study offers two main contributions. It illuminates the interplay between designers’ aesthetic experiences, visceral responses, and intuitive cognitive processes that enable designers to draw upon their aesthetic knowledge to support the collective accomplishment of their task, and provides an interpretation of the design process as a form of ‘creative’ intuition driven by emotional reactions to environmental stimuli and emerging formal solutions