Soil carbon and nutrient availability play crucial roles in ecosystem sustainability, and they are controlled by the interaction of climatic, biotic, and soil physico-chemical variables. Although ...soil physico-chemical properties have been recognized as vital variables for predicting soil organic carbon (SOC) and nutrients, their relative influence across broad geographical scales has yet to be evaluated when simultaneously considering many other drivers. Using boosted regression tree and structural equation modelling analyses of observations from topsoil (0-10 cm) and subsoil (20-30 cm) at 628 sites across Australia, we investigated the effects and relative influence of climate (mean annual temperature and aridity index), plant productivity, soil biodiversity (bacterial and fungal richness), and soil physical (clay and silt) and chemical (pH and iron) properties on SOC content and nutrient availability (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Among these variables, we found that soil physico-chemical properties primarily predicted the continent-scale SOC storage and nutrient availability. In contrast, climate, plant productivity, and soil biodiversity played relatively small roles. The importance of physico-chemical properties was evident across soil depths and ecosystem types (i.e. tropical, temperate, arid, and cropland). Our findings point to the need to better understand the role of soil physico-chemical properties in soil carbon and nutrient cycling and including these variables in predictions of SOC and nutrient dynamics at the ecosystem to continental scale.
This book covers intangible cultural heritage (ICH) governance through an Asia-Pacific context, making reference to the historical development of the international instruments guiding ICH policy. ...With a review of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritages development, this work provides an understanding into why the Convention is the way it is, how it is developing, and how to apply it in different situations. Furthermore, dedicating sections to explain goo.
Who has property in a found item X, which is contained in Y? The finder of X or the person who has property in Y? The common law says it depends. It depends upon whether the owner of Y knew about X, ...or whether X was lost or mislaid, or how small the weight of X is relative to Y (as compared to its value), or whether the finder was an employee of the owner of Y, to name just a few. Wilson (2020) hypothesizes that humans universally cognize property as being contained in a thing. A testable implication of the hypothesis reveals a simpler, clearer rule for settling found property disputes in the common law: if A has property in Y and X is in Y, then A has property in X, even if B finds X. Using a 2 × 2 design, I report the results of a three-dimensional virtual world experiment to test how incentivized panels of participants award a found item to one of two actual parties who have an all-or-nothing financial stake in the panel's decision. The results of the experiment strongly support the hypothesis, even, unexpectedly, under counterfactual conditions.
Summary
One of the major shortcomings of current organic phase change materials (PCMs) is their relatively low melting points, typically below 80°C, which limits their integration into thermal energy ...storage (TES) systems. The present work was aimed at developing lipid‐derived PCMs with increased melting points which would be suitable for TES applications requiring higher melting points without compromising other key properties such as enthalpy. The introduction of an amide group into the structure of linear saturated fatty acids was used as a means to increase intermolecular interactions and therefore crystallization and melting points. A series of six linear monoamides with differing chain length and symmetry about the amide group were investigated for thermal stability, thermal transition, flow behavior, and crystal structure to establish the structure‐property relationships relevant to TES. The presence of the highly polar amide group in the aliphatic fatty acid–derived molecules resulted in notable improvement in performance compared with the analogous monofunctional molecules: Increases in melting points (79°C‐96°C) and high enthalpies of fusion (155‐201 J/g) were recorded. Fundamental relationships between structure, processing, and macroscopic physicochemical properties, never before elucidated, were revealed in the study. The study revealed a step‐like variation of macroscopic properties: a surprising outcome of the competition between intermolecular attractions, symmetry effects, and mass transfer limitations. The predictive structure‐function relationships established in this work will allow the straightforward engineering of monoamide architectures that can extend the range of organic PCMs and deliver thermal properties desirable for TES applications.
Important new relationships between structure, processing conditions, and macroscopic properties of aliphatic monoamides were established. The critical roles played by hydrogen bonds, van der Waals attractions, and their competition with mass and symmetry effects were uncovered. The predictable structure‐function relationships established can lead to the custom engineering of monoamide molecular architectures which deliver targeted phase change properties. The monoamides studied demonstrated significantly higher phase change temperature and enthalpies compared with existing organic PCMs, expanding the range of current applications in thermal energy storage.
This article examines how regions develop new innovation specializations, covering different activities in the whole process from technological invention to commercialization. We develop a conceptual ...framework anchored in two building blocks: first, the conceptualization of innovation as a process spanning technology, design, and market activities; second, the application and extension of the principle of relatedness to understand developments within and between the different innovation activities. We offer an empirical investigation where we operationalize the different innovation activities using three intellectual property rights: patents, industrial designs, and trademarks. We provide two separate analyses of how relatedness and cross-relatedness matter for the emergence of new specializations: for 259 NUTS-2 European regions and for 363 metropolitan statistical areas of the US. While relatedness is significantly associated with new regional specializations for all three innovation activities, cross-relatedness between activities also plays a significant role. Our study has important policy implications for developing and monitoring smart specialization regional strategies.
Thermoplastic segmented polyurethanes which are based on poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO) soft segment, linear symmetric para-phenylene diisocyanate (pPDI), and chain extended with 1,4-butanediol ...(BD) are discussed. The effect of variation of the soft and hard segment molecular weights as well as the overall hard segment content on structure–property behavior is investigated. Together, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) clearly establish the presence of a unique ordered thread-like microphase separated structure that displays considerable order. This thread-like microphase structure is similar to that of the “single molecule” hard segment systems reported earlier from our laboratory 1–4. In addition, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and ambient temperature tensile testing results help to better define the nature of the hard and soft domains.
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In an increasingly global, connected, and digital world, the management, protection, enforcement and monetization of intellectual property has never been so challenging and critical at the same time. ...Challenging because intellectual property, especially in a digital form, can be easily copied, deployed, stolen or misappropriated. Critical because nowadays intellectual property is everywhere, it is present in all areas of economic activities, it enables companies to create competitive moat and its attached monetary value is material. Knowledge should also be openly available; therefore, intellectual property law is basically about finding the right balance between authors´ interests (protection, enforcement, monetization) and users' interests (usage, access). Blockchain and its underlying technology of distributed ledgers has the potential to disrupt the way intellectual properties are managed, protected and monetized. Where the access and distribution of content has been revolutionized by the internet, distributed ledger technology might offer an alternative path helping intellectual property law enter the digital age and address its original intent which is at its core to protect and reward creators, enable open access to knowledge in order to foster innovation. In this paper we conduct a PRISMA guided systematic literature review of 176 scientific publications in the field of blockchain-based management of intellectual property. We use a PESTEL framework to investigate the benefits as well as the limitations of using distributed ledger technology to manage intellectual property. Additionally, we provide recommendations on how the identified challenges can be addressed, as well as future research directions.
To attain thermally conductive but electrically insulating polymer films, in this study, polyimide (PI) nanocomposite films with 1–30 wt% functionalized hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) ...were fabricated via solution casting and following imidization. The microstructures, mechanical and thermal conductive properties of PI/BNNS nanocomposite films were examined by taking account of the relative content, anisotropic orientation, and interfacial interaction of BNNS and PI matrix. The scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffractometry data revealed that BNNSs with hydroxy and amino functional groups have specific molecular interactions with PI matrix and they form stacked aggregates in the nanocomposite films with high BNNS loadings of 10–30 wt%. The tensile mechanical strength/modulus, thermal degradation temperatures, and thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite films were found to be significantly enhanced with increasing the BNNS loadings. For the nanocomposite films with 1–30 wt% BNNS loadings, the in‐plane thermal conductivity was measured to be 1.82–2.38 W/mK, which were much higher than the out‐of‐plane values of 0.35–1.14 W/mK. The significant anisotropic thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite films was found to be owing to the synergistic anisotropic orientation effects of both BNNS and PI matrix. It is noticeable that the in‐plane and out‐of‐plane thermal conductivity values of the nanocomposite film with 30 wt% BNNS were ~1.31 and ~3.35 times higher than those of neat PI film, respectively.
Thermally conductive but electrically insulating polyimide (PI) nanocomposite films with 1‐30 wt% functionalized boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) were fabricated via solution casting and following imidization. For the nanocomposite films with 1–30 wt% BNNS loadings, the in‐plane thermal conductivity was 1.82–2.38 W/mK, which was much higher than the out‐of‐plane value of 0.35–1.14 W/mK. The significant anisotropic thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite films is due to the synergistic anisotropic orientation effects of both BNNSs and PI matrix.
The Federal Constitution and nearly all state constitutions contain takings clauses, which require the payment of just compensation when government takes "property" for public use. Paradoxically, the ...term "property" has received less attention than the rest of the words in these takings clauses, though it is generally agreed that state property law-and typically, the judge-made common law of the state-define the range of interests that qualify for constitutional protection. To the extent that scholars have considered external limits on this range of interests, they have focused on the threat posed by state courts trying to contract the coverage by narrowing what counts as a property interest, and argued about the different ways that federal courts should evaluate these attempts to circumvent constitutional protection. Little attention has been paid, however, to how state courts expand the coverage of protected property, let alone the consequences of that capability. The few works that exist suggest that recognizing new common law property rights as constitutional property is a dangerous possibility because it could make more regulations and legislation into takings. By and large, scholars treat property expansion as a purely theoretical problem.
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