2,763 research outputs found
On estimating local long-term climate trends
No full textClimate sensitivity is commonly taken to refer to the equilibrium change in the annual mean global surface temperature following a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Evaluating this variable remains of significant scientific interest, but its global nature makes it largely irrelevant to many areas of climate science, such as impact assessments, and also to policy in terms of vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning. Here, we focus on local changes and on the way observational data can be analysed to inform us about how local climate has changed since the middle of the nineteenth century. Taking the perspective of climate as a constantly changing distribution, we evaluate the relative changes between different quantiles of such distributions and between different geographical locations for the same quantiles. We show how the observational data can provide guidance on trends in local climate at the specific thresholds relevant to particular impact or policy endeavours. This also quantifies the level of detail needed from climate models if they are to be used as tools to assess climate change impact. The mathematical basis is presented for two methods of extracting these local trends from the data. The two methods are compared first using surrogate data, to clarify the methods and their uncertainties, and then using observational surface temperature time series from four locations across Europe
Design metrics for evaluating the propulsive efficiency of future ships
No full textThere is an increasing need for the ship design process to take account of environmental issues such as the emission of greenhouse gases and the likely extension of a carbon dioxide charging mechanism to international shipping. These issues, together with the need for economic viability, provide further incentives to improve the efficiency of propulsion of ships. The main components of powering are firstly reviewed. Individual components and other power saving devices are identified which should contribute to improvements in the overall efficiency of propulsion. Suitable design metrics and procedures, taking into account economic and environmental factors, are recommended for the design of future ships
Brief note: some observations on oscillating tangential forces and wear in general plane contacts
No full textFor general plane contact of elastically similar materials, including cases where there are multiple regions of contact, general properties of the partial slip solution for conditions of constant normal force and monotonically increasing shearing force have been found recently by the first author. An extension is given here to cover the unloading and cyclic loading cases. Further, it is shown that, if the tangential load varies between two fixed limits, the region of stick does not change, even if relative microslip causes wear, changing continuously the profile of the indenter. The contact area will change, but wear will not enter the original region of adhesion. The theoretical limit to which wear will eventually, asymptotically proceed is established, viz. almost complete contact over what is the initial stick zone, although it may, in practice, take a long time to reach this state
Assessing pricing assumptions for weather index insurance in a changing climate
No full textAbstractWeather index insurance is being offered to low-income farmers in developing countries as an alternative to traditional multi-peril crop insurance. There is widespread support for index insurance as a means of climate change adaptation but whether or not these products are themselves resilient to climate change has not been well studied. Given climate variability and climate change, an over-reliance on historical climate observations to guide the design of such products can result in premiums which mislead policyholders and insurers alike, about the magnitude of underlying risks. Here, a method to incorporate different sources of climate data into the product design phase is presented. Bayesian Networks are constructed to demonstrate how insurers can assess the product viability from a climate perspective, using past observations and simulations of future climate. Sensitivity analyses illustrate the dependence of pricing decisions on both the choice of information, and the method for incorporating such data. The methods and their sensitivities are illustrated using a case study analysing the provision of index-based crop insurance in Kolhapur, India. We expose the benefits and limitations of the Bayesian Network approach, weather index insurance as an adaptation measure and climate simulations as a source of quantitative predictive information. Current climate model output is shown to be of limited value and difficult to use by index insurance practitioners. The method presented, however, is shown to be an effective tool for testing pricing assumptions and could feasibly be employed in the future to incorporate multiple sources of climate data
The description of Kabarda by D.A. Milutin in the context of the cauсasus version of russian orien-talism foundation
No full textThe paper pertains to the analysis of a manuscript authored by D.A. Milutin in the first half of the 19th century, regarding the region of Kabarda. This manuscript, hitherto unpublished in academic circles, has been the subject of our examination. Our endeavor was to uncover the utilization of orientalist clichés by the manuscript's author, in order to depict both the geographical delineations of this ethno-political entity and the ethnography, livelihood, societal structure, and customary legal norms of its inhabitants. A remarkable parallel can be observed between certain aspects of the manuscript and the ideas propounded by E. Said in his discourse on European Orientalism. The researcher drew a comparison between the political framework and traditions of the Kabardian people and those prevalent in Europe. Moreover, the researcher romanticized the region's historical past, employing the conceptof "reverse human progress," along with other typical methodologies embraced by Orientalist thinkers of that era. Concomitantly, D.A. Milutin provided detailed descriptions of the political, social, and everyday existence in Kabarda, thereby endowing the manuscript with an intrinsic value as an original historical and cultural resource for contemporary scholars. It is concluded that, similar to numerous analogous texts produced by Orientalist scholars, the significance of D.A. Milutin's man-uscript lies not in its political arguments concerning the military and economic dominion of the Russian Empire over the Caucasian peoples, or the imperative to extend colonial governance to these ethnic territorie
Elements of Ethnotaxonomy in Dhule and Nandurbar Districts (Maharashtra)
No full textDhule and Nandurbar districts of Maharashtra are mainly inhabited by tribals and rural folks. The author’s ethnobotanical and floristic forays in these districts brought out certain elements of ethnotaxonomy like ethnotaxonomic markers, classifications, principles of nomenclature and exomorphic features. The facts gathered indicated that the people in the area are fairly flooded with reckonable elements of ethnotaxonomy. And 22 ethnotaxonomic markers are identified. These are evaluated and discussed pertinently in this paper.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Post Graduate Department of Botany, S.S.V.P.S’s L.K. P.R.Ghogrey Science College, Dhule-424005 (Maharashtra), India*Corresponding author, Email: [email protected] Cite This Article As: D.A. Patil. 2010. Elements of Ethnotaxonomy in Dhule and Nandurbar Districts (Maharashtra). J. Ecobiotechnol. 2(3): 18-25
Aanteekeningen omtrent de gevolgen van zware stormvloeden, tusschen 1500 en 1825 voorgekomen, voor de dijken en polders langs het Zuidwestelijk deel der Zuiderzee: samengesteld door den ingenieur van den Rijkswaterstaat D.A. van Heyst
No full textOverzicht van stormvloeden (1500 - 1825) die tot overstromingen langs de Zuiderzee geleid hebben. Aanleiding was de overstroming van 1916, en men wilde weten of deze stormvloed inderdaad uniek was
The dynamical influences of a hard transition zone on post-glacial uplifts and rotational signatures
No full textRecent investigations from laboratory and Monte-Carlo inversion of geophysical signatures have suggested that the transition zone of the mantle between 400 and 670 km depth may be stiffer than the lower and the upper mantle. By means of a five-layer viscoelastic spherical Earth model, we have calculated the displacement fields associated with post-glacial rebound, the induced polar motions, the temporal variations of the coefficients of the geopotential up to degree eight and the stress fields induced by deglaciation in the lithosphere and the upper mantle. Temporal variations of stress fields in the lithosphere reveal a non-monotonic behaviour due to the viscosity stratification. The results demonstrate the importance of the coming LAGEOS II geodetic satellite mission on constraining the rheological nature of the transition zone in the mantle. -from Author
Author Correction: Coupling electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> conversion with CO<sub>2</sub> capture (Nature Catalysis, (2021), 4, 11, (952-958), 10.1038/s41929-021-00699-7)
No full textIn the version of this article, there were errors in Fig. 2a and d. In Fig. 2a, we have changed Cu2+ to Cu(0) in the revised version. While the two references cited in our paper used Cu2+ in their schematics,1,2 we believe that Cu(0) is the correct representation for the electrochemically mediated amine regeneration (EMAR)3. To be clear, the Cu metal anode is oxidized into cupric ions. The cupric ions then bind to the carbamate and displace the CO2 and form a copper–amine complex. The copper–amine complex is then reduced at the cathode where Cu metal is plated out. In Fig. 2d, we have changed the polarity of the cathode and anode in the revised version. A proton is released at the anode, while a hydroxide is released at the cathode. We have also simplified the quinone/hydroquinone chemistry in the revised version to be consistent with proton and hydroxide stoichiometry. The original and revised Fig. 2 images are shown below. The changes have been made to the html and PDF versions of the article.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. Author correction to DOI 10.1038/s41929-021-00699-7ChemE/Transport Phenomen
Cotton mill processes and calculations. An elementary text book for the use of textile schools and for home study ...
No full text2d ed.--rev. and enl. By D.A. Tompkins.viii, 394 p
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