Introduces a bold, new model for energy industry pollution prevention and sustainable growthBalancing industrial pollution prevention with economic growth is one of the knottiest problems faced by ...industry today. This book introduces a novel approach to using data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a powerful tool for achieving that balance in the energy industries—the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gases. It describes a rigorous framework that integrates elements of the social sciences, corporate strategy, regional economics, energy economics, and environmental policy, and delivers a methodology and a set of strategies for promoting green innovation while solving key managerial challenges to greenhouse gas reduction and business growth.In writing this book the authors have drawn upon their pioneering work and considerable experience in the field to develop an unconventional, holistic approach to using DEA to assess key aspects of sustainability development. The book is divided into two sections, the first of which lays out a conventional framework of DEA as the basis for new research directions. In the second section, the authors delve into conceptual and methodological extensions of conventional DEA for solving problems of environmental assessment in all contemporary energy industry sectors. Introduces a powerful new approach to using DEA to achieve pollution prevention, sustainability, and business growthCovers the fundamentals of DEA, including theory, statistical models, and practical issues of conventional applications of DEAExplores new statistical modeling strategies and explores their economic and business implicationsExamines applications of DEA to environmental analysis across the complete range of energy industries, including coal, petroleum, shale gas, nuclear energy, renewables, and moreSummarizes important studies and nearly 800 peer reviewed articles on energy, the environment, and sustainabilityEnvironmental Assessment on Energy and Sustainability by Data Envelopment Analysis is must-reading for researchers, academics, graduate students, and practitioners in the energy industries, as well as government officials and policymakers tasked with regulating the environmental impacts of industrial pollution.
Phenobarbital (PB) response elements are composed of various nuclear receptor (NR)-binding sites. A 51-bp distal element PB-responsive enhancer module (PBREM) conserved in the PB-inducible CYP2B ...genes contains two NR-binding direct repeat (DR)-4 motifs. Responding to PB exposure in liver, the NR constitutive active receptor (CAR) translocates to the nucleus, forms a dimer with the retinoid X receptor (RXR), and activates PBREM via binding to DR-4 motifs. For CYP3A genes, a common NR site DR-3 or everted repeat (ER)-6 is present in proximal promoter regions. In addition, the distal element called the xenobiotic responsive module (XREM) is found in human CYP3A4 genes, which contain both DR-3 and ER-6 motifs. Pregnane X receptor (PXR) could bind to all of these sites and, upon PB induction, a PXR:RXR heterodimer could transactivate XREM. These response elements and NRs are functionally versatile, and capable of responding to distinct but overlapping groups of xenochemicals.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Subgrid snow cover is one of the key parameters in global land models since snow cover has large impacts on the surface energy and moisture budgets, and hence the surface temperature. In this study, ...the Subgrid Snow Distribution (SSNOWD) snow cover parameterization was incorporated into the Minimal Advanced Treatments of Surface Interaction and Runoff (MATSIRO) land surface model. SSNOWD assumes that the subgrid snow water equivalent (SWE) distribution follows a lognormal distribution function, and its parameters are physically derived from geoclimatic information. Two 29-yr global offline simulations, with and without SSNOWD, were performed while forced with the Japanese 25-yr Reanalysis (JRA-25) dataset combined with an observed precipitation dataset. The simulated spatial patterns of mean monthly snow cover fraction were compared with satellite-based Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations. The snow cover fraction was improved by the inclusion of SSNOWD, particularly for the accumulation season and/or regions with relatively small amounts of snowfall; snow cover fraction was typically underestimated in the simulation without SSNOWD. In the Northern Hemisphere, the daily snow-covered area was validated using Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) snow analysis datasets. In the simulation with SSNOWD, snow-covered area largely agreed with the IMS snow analysis and the seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere was improved. This was because SSNOWD formulates the snow cover fraction differently for the accumulation season and ablation season, and represents the hysteresis of the snow cover fraction between different seasons. The effects of including SSNOWD on hydrological properties and snow mass were also examined.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Paleoclimate experiments using contemporary climate models are an effective measure to evaluate climate models. In recent years, Earth system models (ESMs) were developed to investigate carbon cycle ...climate feedbacks, as well as to project the future climate. Paleoclimate events can be suitable benchmarks to evaluate ESMs. The variation in aerosols associated with the volcanic eruptions provide a clear signal in forcing, which can be a good test to check the response of a climate model to the radiation changes. The variations in atmospheric CO2 level or changes in ice sheet extent can be used for evaluation as well. Here we present implementations of the paleoclimate experiments proposed by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5/Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP5/PMIP3) using MIROC-ESM, an ESM based on the global climate model MIROC (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate). In this paper, experimental settings and spin-up procedures of the mid-Holocene, the Last Glacial Maximum, and the Last Millennium experiments are explained. The first two experiments are time slice experiments and the last one is a transient experiment. The complexity of the model requires various steps to correctly configure the experiments. Several basic outputs are also shown.
The quasi-multilayered films consisting of YBa2Cu3O y layers with BaSnO3 nano-rods and the pseudo layers of in-plane-distributed BaSnO3 nano-particles were fabricated using a PLD method, in order to ...clarify the pinning landscape simultaneously improving the critical current densities, J cs, both at B || c and at B || ab. The insertion of the pseudo layers into YBa2Cu3O y films contributes to the enhancement of J c at B || ab but it is a tendency to reduce the J c at B || c. When the density of the nano-particles per layer is decreased, by contrast, the J c at B || ab can be enlarged without the reduction of the c-axis peak. This is attributed to the fragmentation of the channel for flux creep motion through the pseudo layers. Furthermore, the J c in tilted magnetic fields off the c-axis enhances as well as c-axis peak in a high magnetic field, when BaSnO3 nano-particles are increased.
•BSO/YBCO multilayered films were irradiated using 200MeV Xe ions along c-axis.•Size and spatial distribution of BSO were tunned by the multilayering process.•Size effect of nano-dots on Jc stands ...out for high B and B tilted off c-axis.•In-plane distributed nano-dots show a detrimental effect on the Jc around B || c.•In-plane distributed nano-dots significantly enhance Jc around B || ab.
In order to clarify the influence of size and spatial distribution of three-dimensional pinning centres (3D-PCs) on hybrid flux pinning, columnar defects (CDs) were installed by using 200MeV Xe ions along the c-axis direction into quasi-multilayered films consisting of YBa2Cu3Oy layers and pseudo layers of BaSnO3. The positive effect of the BaSnO3 doping on the hybrid flux pinning stands out for the critical current density Jc around B || c in high magnetic field and/or inclined magnetic field off the c-axis, which is more remarkable for the multilayered film grown at higher temperature, possibly due to larger BaSnO3 nano-dots. In the case of the in-plane distributed BaSnO3 nano-dots, the Jc around B || ab is remarkably enhanced, whereas there is a detrimental effect on the Jc around B || c. These imply that the tuning of 3D-PCs is one of the keys to improve the Jc at all magnetic field orientations for the hybrid flux pinning.
The microstructure and superconducting properties of doped thin films of the superconductor (Bi,Pb) 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O x (Bi,Pb-2223), fabricated by sputtering using doped Bi,Pb-2223 targets and ...subsequent annealing, were investigated. The aim of this paper was to assess the feasibility of increasing the critical current density (J c ) for Bi,Pb-2223 tapes and to address the weak response of Bi,Pb-2223 to magnetic fields via doping with various elements. The transition temperature (T c ) for a pure Bi,Pb-2223 film was determined to be 86.8 K, while doped Bi,Pb-2223 films exhibited higher values, with T c of 95.0 K for an Hf-doped film. I c -B-T-angle transport data indicated that J c for an Hf-doped Bi,Pb-2223 film was much higher than that for an undoped film at all angles at 77.3 K and 0.5 T.
Columnar defects (CDs) were installed into YBa2Cu3Oy thin films at the crossing angle θi relative to the c-axis using 200 MeV Xe ions, in order to clarify the influence of θi on the angular ...behaviours of critical current density Jc. The width of a Jc peak occuring at B || c linearly increases with broadening CD-crossing angle, where its shape maintains a single peak in the range of θi ≤ 25°. The CDs crossing at 45°, on the other hand, drastically change the angular behaviour of Jc around B || c: the Jc is equally elevated over the angular region from −45° to 45° in the lower magnetic field, whereas the rapid reduction of the Jc occurs at B || c with increasing magnetic field, leading to the appearance of double peaks near the irradiation angles, 45°. This crossover phenomenon is attributed to the difference in the pinned states of flux lines between B || c and at the irradiation angles: the CDs crossing at 45° cannot provide the correlated flux pinning along the c-axis, resulting in the uncorrelated pinned state at B || c.
A warming climate is altering land-atmosphere exchanges of carbon, with a potential for increased vegetation productivity as well as the mobilization of permafrost soil carbon stores. Here we ...investigate land-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) cycling through analysis of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and its component fluxes of gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) and soil carbon residence time, simulated by a set of land surface models (LSMs) over a region spanning the drainage basin of Northern Eurasia. The retrospective simulations cover the period 1960–2009 at 0.5∘ resolution, which is a scale common among many global carbon and climate model simulations. Model performance benchmarks were drawn from comparisons against both observed CO2 fluxes derived from site-based eddy covariance measurements as well as regional-scale GPP estimates based on satellite remote-sensing data. The site-based comparisons depict a tendency for overestimates in GPP and ER for several of the models, particularly at the two sites to the south. For several models the spatial pattern in GPP explains less than half the variance in the MODIS MOD17 GPP product. Across the models NEP increases by as little as 0.01 to as much as 0.79 g C m-2 yr-2, equivalent to 3 to 340 % of the respective model means, over the analysis period. For the multimodel average the increase is 135 % of the mean from the first to last 10 years of record (1960–1969 vs. 2000–2009), with a weakening CO2 sink over the latter decades. Vegetation net primary productivity increased by 8 to 30 % from the first to last 10 years, contributing to soil carbon storage gains. The range in regional mean NEP among the group is twice the multimodel mean, indicative of the uncertainty in CO2 sink strength. The models simulate that inputs to the soil carbon pool exceeded losses, resulting in a net soil carbon gain amid a decrease in residence time. Our analysis points to improvements in model elements controlling vegetation productivity and soil respiration as being needed for reducing uncertainty in land-atmosphere CO2 exchange. These advances will require collection of new field data on vegetation and soil dynamics, the development of benchmarking data sets from measurements and remote-sensing observations, and investments in future model development and intercomparison studies.
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