Eco-innovative business models are prominent elements of the development of sustainable production and consumption systems in organizations of all sizes, especially for small and medium enterprises, ...where a key challenge is to direct eco-innovation strategies toward the goals of their business model. Therefore, using product life cycle assessment, this research analyzed the alignment between the sustainable business model and the eco-innovative strategies of a Brazilian company in the veterinary homeopathy pharmaceutical industry. Disregarding the controversial discussion about homeopathy, this activity has shown significant growth, having a representative economic importance in the animal protein production chain. The research adopted a case study method for one of Brazil’s leading companies in this activity. Data were collected through interviews, process analysis and company records. The results were built through quantitative and qualitative techniques that demonstrated that the eco-innovations developed by the company are directed toward the creation of new production methods and, above all, new products. The management model was framed in the “adopt a management role” archetype, in accordance with the literature. It was found that eco-innovation strategies are important for the development of the company’s business model and that this alignment is possible only when there is a management system and investments in the company’s ability to eco-innovate in product, process and organizational structure.
•A study of a small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) contributed to the literature on sustainable development.•Eco-innovations are geared toward building new processes and, above all, new products.•The impacts of eco-innovations have generated social and environmental benefits.•Life cycle assessment allowed this study to define the activity profile of an SME’s business model.•The industry’s business models are concentrated in the social area.
The authors quantify the relationship between the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the atmospheric heat transport across the equator (AHTEQ) in climate models and in ...observations. The observed zonal mean ITCZ location varies from 5.3°S in the boreal winter to 7.2°N in the boreal summer with an annual mean position of 1.65°N while the AHTEQvaries from 2.1 PW northward in the boreal winter to 2.3 PW southward in the boreal summer with an annual mean of 0.1 PW southward. Seasonal variations in the ITCZ location and AHTEQare highly anticorrelated in the observations and in a suite of state-of-the-art coupled climate models with regression coefficients of −2.7° and −2.4° PW−1respectively. It is also found that seasonal variations in ITCZ location and AHTEQare well correlated in a suite of slab ocean aquaplanet simulations with varying ocean mixed layer depths. However, the regression coefficient between ITCZ location and AHTEQdecreases with decreasing mixed layer depth as a consequence of the asymmetry that develops between the winter and summer Hadley cells as the ITCZ moves farther off the equator.
The authors go on to analyze the annual mean change in ITCZ location and AHTEQin an ensemble of climate perturbation experiments including the response to CO₂ doubling, simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum, and simulations of the mid-Holocene. The shift in the annual average ITCZ location is also strongly anticorrelated with the change in annual mean AHTEQwith a regression coefficient of −3.2° PW−1, similar to that found over the seasonal cycle.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Tropical paleoclimate records provide important insights into the response of precipitation patterns and the Hadley circulation to past climate changes. Paleo-records are commonly interpreted as ...indicating north–south shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), with the ITCZ's mean position moving toward the warmer hemisphere in response to changes in cross-equatorial temperature gradients. Though a number of records in tropical Central and South America, North Africa, Asia and the Indo-Australian region are consistent with this interpretation, the magnitudes and regional variability of past ITCZ shifts are poorly constrained. Combining estimates of past tropical sea surface temperature (SST) gradients with the strong linear relationship observed between zonally averaged ITCZ position and tropical SST gradients in the modern seasonal cycle and in models of past climates, we quantify past shifts in zonally averaged ITCZ position. We find that mean ITCZ shifts are likely less than 1° latitude during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) and mid-Holocene (6 ka) climates, with the largest shift during HS1. The ITCZ's position is closely tied to heat transport between the hemispheres by the atmosphere and ocean; accordingly, these small mean ITCZ shifts are associated with relatively large (∼0.1–0.4 PW) changes in cross-equatorial atmospheric heat transport (AHTEQ). These AHTEQ changes point to changes in cross-equatorial ocean heat transport or net radiative fluxes of the opposite sign. During HS1, the increase in northward AHTEQ is large enough to compensate for a partial or total shutdown in northward heat transport by the Atlantic Ocean's meridional overturning circulation. The large AHTEQ response for small changes in mean ITCZ position places limits on the magnitude of past shifts in the globally averaged ITCZ. Large (⩾5°) meridional displacements of the ITCZ inferred from regional compilations of proxy records must be limited in their zonal extent, and ITCZ shifts at other longitudes must be near zero, for the global mean shift to remain ⩽1° as suggested by our results. Our examination of model results and modern observations supports variable regional and seasonal changes in ITCZ precipitation. This work thus highlights the importance of a dense network of tropical precipitation reconstructions to document the regional and seasonal heterogeneity of ITCZ responses to past climate changes.
•Estimates of past mean ITCZ location and atmospheric heat transport (AHT).•Mean ITCZ at the LGM, HS1 and 6 ka likely <1° different from present.•Sensitivity of AHT to ITCZ location limits size of past ITCZ shifts.•HS1 northward AHT anomaly consistent with large reduction in heat transport by AMOC.•Regional responses to past climate changes much larger than mean ITCZ response.
The spinal dorsal horn is a major site for the induction and maintenance of mechanical allodynia, but the circuitry that underlies this clinically important form of pain remains unclear. The studies ...presented here provide strong evidence that the neural circuits conveying mechanical allodynia in the dorsal horn differ by the nature of the injury. Calretinin (CR) neurons in lamina II inner convey mechanical allodynia induced by inflammatory injuries, while protein kinase C gamma (PKCγ) neurons at the lamina II/III border convey mechanical allodynia induced by neuropathic injuries. Cholecystokinin (CCK) neurons located deeper within the dorsal horn (laminae III–IV) are important for both types of injuries. Interestingly, the Maf+ subset of CCK neurons is composed of transient vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (tVGLUT3) neurons, which convey primarily dynamic allodynia. Identification of an etiology-based circuitry for mechanical allodynia in the dorsal horn has important implications for the mechanistic and clinical understanding of this condition.
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•CR neurons are important for mechanical allodynia in inflammatory injuries•PKCγ neurons are important for mechanical allodynia in neuropathic injuries•CCK and tVGLUT3 neurons in deeper laminae convey both types of injuries•The Maf+ subset of CCK neurons encompasses tVGLUT3 and conveys dynamic allodynia
Peirs et al. identified distinct spinal cord microcircuits that underlie mechanical allodynia, depending on the injury type. The neurons engaged after neuropathic or inflammatory injuries include populations that express CCK, tVGLUT3, CR, and PKCγ.
The response of the Southern Ocean to a repeating seasonal cycle of ozone loss is studied in two coupled climate models and is found to comprise both fast and slow processes. The fast response is ...similar to the interannual signature of the southern annular mode (SAM) on sea surface temperature (SST), onto which the ozone hole forcing projects in the summer. It comprises enhanced northward Ekman drift, inducing negative summertime SST anomalies around Antarctica, earlier sea ice freeze-up the following winter, and northward expansion of the sea ice edge year-round. The enhanced northward Ekman drift, however, results in upwelling of warm waters from below the mixed layer in the region of seasonal sea ice. With sustained bursts of westerly winds induced by ozone hole depletion, this warming from below eventually dominates over the cooling from anomalous Ekman drift. The resulting slow time-scale response (years to decades) leads to warming of SSTs around Antarctica and ultimately a reduction in sea ice cover year-round. This two-time-scale behavior—rapid cooling followed by slow but persistent warming—is found in the two coupled models analyzed: one with an idealized geometry and the other with a complex global climate model with realistic geometry. Processes that control the time scale of the transition from cooling to warming and their uncertainties are described. Finally the implications of these results are discussed for rationalizing previous studies of the effect of the ozone hole on SST and sea ice extent.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Quantifying global trends and variability in sea surface temperature (SST) is of fundamental importance to understanding changes in the Earth's climate. One approach to observing SST is via remote ...sensing. Here we use a 37-year gap-filled, daily-mean analysis of satellite SSTs to quantify SST trends, variability and persistence between 1981-2018. The global mean warming trend is 0.09 K per decade globally, with 95% of local trends being between -0.1 K and + 0.35 K. Excluding perennial sea-ice regions, the mean warming trend is 0.11 K per decade. After removing the long-term trend we calculate the SST power spectra over different time periods. The maximum variance in the SST power spectra in the equatorial Pacific is 1.9 K
on 1-5 year timescales, dominated by ENSO processes. In western boundary currents characterised by an intense mesoscale activity, SST power on sub-annual timescales dominates, with a maximum variance of 4.9 K
. Persistence timescales tend to be shorter in the summer hemisphere due to the shallower mixed layer. The median short-term persistence length is 11-14 days, found over 71-79% of the global ocean area, with seasonal variations. The mean global correlation between monthly SST anomalies with a three-month time-lag is 0.35, with statistically significant correlations over 54.0% of the global oceans, and notably in the northern and equatorial Pacific, and the sub-polar gyre south of Greenland. At six months, the mean global SST anomaly correlation falls to 0.18. The satellite data record enables the detailed characterisation of temporal changes in SST over almost four decades.
Precipitation and circulation patterns of Northern Hemisphere monsoons are investigated in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 simulations for mid‐Holocene and future climate scenario ...rcp8.5. Although both climates exhibit Northern Hemisphere warming and enhanced interhemispheric thermal contrast in boreal summer, changes in the spatial extent and rainfall intensity in future climate are smaller than in mid‐Holocene for all Northern Hemisphere monsoons except the Indian monsoon. A decomposition of the moisture budget in thermodynamic and dynamic contributions suggests that under future global warming, the weaker response of the African, Indian, and North American monsoons results from a compensation between both components. The dynamic component, primarily constrained by changes in net energy input over land, determines instead most of the mid‐Holocene land monsoonal rainfall response.
Plain Language Summary
Mechanisms mediating the response of the Northern Hemisphere monsoons are investigated in two different simulated warm climates: the mid‐Holocene driven by orbital perturbations and a future global warming scenario due to increased greenhouse gas concentration. In both climates, monsoons wetten and expand relative to present day. In general, they do so more in the past than in the future despite a large warming in the latter. To understand these different responses, we explore whether monsoon changes are mostly related to changes in the amount of water vapor held in the atmosphere or to changes in the mean atmospheric circulation. In the past, intensification of monsoons is due to the reinforcing effects of increased water vapor content and strengthening of the mean circulation. In the future, however, the mean circulation weakens, opposing the water vapor content increase and leading to an overall weaker response than in the past. Causes for this difference can be traced back to changes in the net energy input into the atmosphere: While, in the past, this energy input increases, notably over Northern Hemisphere land, it remains largely unchanged in the future climate. Our results highlight that mid‐Holocene is not an analogue for future global warming scenario.
Key Points
Different mechanisms mediate the response of Northern Hemisphere monsoons under future global warming and mid‐Holocene forcing
Northern Hemisphere monsoons intensify more strongly in mid‐Holocene than in future climate despite a larger warming in the latter
As an emergent constraint for future projections, tropical circulation weakening limits monsoon rainfall increase with global warming
We consider the anisotropic Calderón problem of recovering a conductivity matrix or a Riemannian metric from electrical boundary measurements in three and higher dimensions. In the earlier work 14, ...it was shown that a metric in a fixed conformal class is uniquely determined by boundary measurements under two conditions: (1) the metric is conformally transversally anisotropic (CTA), and (2) the transversal manifold is simple. In this paper we will consider geometries satisfying (1) but not (2). The first main result states that the boundary measurements uniquely determine a mixed Fourier transform/attenuated geodesic ray transform (or integral against a more general semiclassical limit measure) of an unknown coefficient. In particular, one obtains uniqueness results whenever the geodesic ray transform on the transversal manifold is injective. The second result shows that the boundary measurements in an infinite cylinder uniquely determine the transversal metric. The first result is proved by using complex geometrical optics solutions involving Gaussian beam quasimodes, and the second result follows from a connection between the Calderón problem and Gel’fand’s inverse problem for the wave equation and the boundary control method.
The main goal of this article is to offer a performance model based on the principles and practices of corporate governance applied to agricultural cooperatives. The research uses a quantitative ...approach based on a survey of agricultural cooperatives established in Brazil. The procedures focused on the descriptive analysis of empirical results, the use factor, and discriminant analysis. Factor analysis reported two dimensions of governance (reliability and transparency) and three of performance (financial control, profitability, and sustainability). The discriminant analysis allowed us to distinguish cooperatives with the best governance practices and those with the best performance. This study presents a performance model based on structured governance principles and practices.
Considering the variation of the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) in wireless networks, the objective of this study is to investigate and propose a method of indoor localization in order to ...improve the accuracy of localization that is compromised by RSSI variation. For this, quartile analysis is used for data pre-processing and the k-nearest neighbors (kNN) classifier is used for localization. In addition to the tests in a real environment, simulations were performed, varying many parameters related to the proposed method and the environment. In the real environment with reference points of 1.284 density per unit area (RPs/m2), the method presents zero-mean error in the localization in test points (TPs) coinciding with the RPs. In the simulated environment with a density of 0.327 RPs/m2, a mean error of 0.490 m for the localization of random TPs was achieved. These results are important contributions and allow us to conclude that the method is promising for locating objects in indoor environments.
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