Climate-dependent CO2 emissions from lakes

Inland waters, just as the world's oceans, play an important role in the global carbon cycle. While lakes and reservoirs typically emit CO2, they also bury carbon in their sediment. The net CO2 emission is largely the result of the decomposition or preservation of terrestrially supplied carbon. What regulates the balance between CO2 emission and carbon burial is not known, but climate change and temperature have been hypothesized to influence both processes. We analyzed patterns in carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) in 83 shallow lakes over a large climatic gradient in South America and found a strong, positive correlation with temperature. The higher pCO2 in warmer lakes may be caused by a higher, temperature-dependent mineralization of organic carbon. This pattern suggests that cool lakes may start to emit more CO2 when they warm up because of climate ch

Bioethical implications in the environmental licensing of large enterprises in Brazil

O processo de licenciamento ambiental de refinarias de petróleo no Brasil tem sido criticado pela ausência do cuidado com relação aos efeitos decorrentes do empreendimento sobre a saúde. Por isso, este trabalho busca identificar ferramentas da bioética que contribuam para a proteção da saúde nesse processo. Amparado numa revisão integrativa da literatura científica e no método desconstrutivo proposto por Derrida, justifica-se a pertinência e legitimidade do uso da bioética para fundamentar a relação entre as consequências para a saúde dos indivíduos, populações e dos ecossistemas e a conflituosidade envolvida. Conclui-se que a bioética pode contribuir como ferramenta teórica e prática por meio da descrição, avaliação dos conflitos e dilemas morais envolvendo a licença para implantação de processos produtivos, servindo para processos de crítica, justificação e de estabelecimento de medidas moralmente aceitáveis para a proteção da saúde humana e dos demais seres vivos do ecossistema.Brazilian oil refneries’ environmental licensing process have been criticised for lack of healthcare aspects. Therefore, this paper aims to identify elements of bioethics that contribute to healthcare in this process. Based on an integrative review of scientifc literature and on the deconstructive method proposed by Derrida, the relevance and legitimacy of bioethics to justify the relationship between morality and the consequences for individual’s, populations’s and ecosystems’s health is justifed. We conclude that bioethics may contribute as a theoretical and practical tool to solve conflicts by describing existing struggles and moral dilemmas, through processes of criticism and justifcation and the establishment of morally acceptable measures for the protection of humans and environmental health

Knowledge and information needs of informal caregivers in palliative care : a qualitative systematic review

Objectives: To review current understanding of the knowledge and information needs of informal caregivers in palliative settings. Data sources: Seven electronic databases were searched for the period January 1994–November 2006: Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase, Ovid, Zetoc and Pubmed using a meta-search engine (Metalib®). Key journals and reference lists of selected papers were hand searched. Review methods: Included studies were peer-reviewed journal articles presenting original research. Given a variety of approaches to palliative care research, a validated systematic review methodology for assessing disparate evidence was used in order to assign scores to different aspects of each study (introduction and aims, method and data, sampling, data analysis, ethics and bias, findings/results, transferability/generalizability, implications and usefulness). Analysis was assisted by abstraction of key details of study into a table. Results: Thirty-four studies were included from eight different countries. The evidence was strongest in relation to pain management, where inadequacies in caregiver knowledge and the importance of education were emphasized. The significance of effective communication and information sharing between patient, caregiver and service provider was also emphasized. The evidence for other caregiver knowledge and information needs, for example in relation to welfare and social support was weaker. There was limited literature on non-cancer conditions and the care-giving information needs of black and minority ethnic populations. Overall, the evidence base was predominantly descriptive and dominated by small-scale studies, limiting generalizability. Conclusions: As palliative care shifts into patients’ homes, a more rigorously researched evidence base devoted to understanding caregivers knowledge and information needs is required. Research design needs to move beyond the current focus on dyads to incorporate the complex, three-way interactions between patients, service providers and caregivers in end-of-life care setting

Quantum walks can find a marked element on any graph

We solve an open problem by constructing quantum walks that not only detect but also find marked vertices in a graph. In the case when the marked set $M$ consists of a single vertex, the number of steps of the quantum walk is quadratically smaller than the classical hitting time $HT(P,M)$ of any reversible random walk $P$ on the graph. In the case of multiple marked elements, the number of steps is given in terms of a related quantity $HT^+(\mathit{P,M})$ which we call extended hitting time. Our approach is new, simpler and more general than previous ones. We introduce a notion of interpolation between the random walk $P$ and the absorbing walk $P'$, whose marked states are absorbing. Then our quantum walk is simply the quantum analogue of this interpolation. Contrary to previous approaches, our results remain valid when the random walk $P$ is not state-transitive. We also provide algorithms in the cases when only approximations or bounds on parameters $p_M$ (the probability of picking a marked vertex from the stationary distribution) and $HT^+(\mathit{P,M})$ are known.Comment: 50 page

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

Connection between dynamics and thermodynamics of liquids on the melting line

The dynamics of a large number of liquids and polymers exhibit scaling properties characteristic of a simple repulsive inverse power law (IPL) potential, most notably the superpositioning of relaxation data as a function of the variable TV{\gamma}, where T is temperature, V the specific volume, and {\gamma} a material constant. A related scaling law, TmVm{\Gamma}, with the same exponent {\Gamma}={\gamma}, links the melting temperature Tm and volume Vm of the model IPL liquid; liquid dynamics is then invariant at the melting point. Motivated by a similar invariance of dynamics experimentally observed at transitions of liquid crystals, we determine dynamic and melting point scaling exponents {\gamma} and {\Gamma} for a large number of non-associating liquids. Rigid, spherical molecules containing no polar bonds have {\Gamma}={\gamma}; consequently, the reduced relaxation time, viscosity and diffusion coefficient are each constant along the melting line. For other liquids {\gamma}>{\Gamma} always; i.e., the dynamics is more sensitive to volume than is the melting point, and for these liquids the dynamics at the melting point slows down with increasing Tm (that is, increasing pressure).Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

The public health risk posed by Listeria monocytogenes in frozen fruit and vegetables including herbs, blanched during processing

A multi-country outbreak ofListeria monocytogenesST6 linked to blanched frozen vegetables (bfV)took place in the EU (2015–2018). Evidence of food-borne outbreaks shows thatL. monocytogenesisthe most relevant pathogen associated with bfV. The probability of illness per serving of uncooked bfV,for the elderly (65–74 years old) population, is up to 3,600 times greater than cooked bfV and verylikely lower than any of the evaluated ready-to-eat food categories. The main factors affectingcontamination and growth ofL. monocytogenesin bfV during processing are the hygiene of the rawmaterials and process water; the hygienic conditions of the food processing environment (FPE); andthe time/Temperature (t/T) combinations used for storage and processing (e.g. blanching, cooling).Relevant factors after processing are the intrinsic characteristics of the bfV, the t/T combinations usedfor thawing and storage and subsequent cooking conditions, unless eaten uncooked. Analysis of thepossible control options suggests that application of a complete HACCP plan is either not possible orwould not further enhance food safety. Instead, specific prerequisite programmes (PRP) andoperational PRP activities should be applied such as cleaning and disinfection of the FPE, water control,t/T control and product information and consumer awareness. The occurrence of low levels ofL. monocytogenesat the end of the production process (e.g.<10 CFU/g) would be compatible with thelimit of 100 CFU/g at the moment of consumption if any labelling recommendations are strictly followed(i.e. 24 h at 5°C). Under reasonably foreseeable conditions of use (i.e. 48 h at 12°C),L. monocytogeneslevels need to be considerably lower (not detected in 25 g). Routine monitoring programmes forL. monocytogenesshould be designed following a risk-based approach and regularly revised based ontrend analysis, being FPE monitoring a key activity in the frozen vegetable industry