Information in the Animate and Inanimate Worlds

Closed systems are governed by the second law of thermodynamics and cannot spontaneously become more ordered. In open physical systems exposed to external energy flows, additional macroscopic degrees of freedom (memory cells) emerge, their number increasing with an increase in the flow and orderliness of the external energy. Biological systems are characterized by molecular degrees of freedom, the density of which is more than twenty orders of magnitude higher than that of macroscopic degrees of freedom in any open physical system exposed to the same external energy flow. This indicates that the self-organization of physical systems in external energy flows and the self-organization and evolution of living systems are fundamentally different. Thus, although life is an open system, the energy (food) flows that it consumes and all other external factors affecting life are so poorly ordered, compared to life itself, that they cannot increase the degree of order in the latter. Therefore, living systems obey an analogue of the second law of thermodynamics: within periods of time considerably shorter than the duration of evolutionary changes, living systems can only lose the accumulated information (i.e., the entropy can only increase), even if the systems consume external energy–food flows.     

Risk-Based Analysis of Environmental Monitoring Data: Application to Heavy Metals in North Carolina Surface Waters

The state of North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) conducts routine water quality monitoring throughout the state to assess the health of aquatic systems. The current study reports the results of a retrospective (1990–2000) ecological risk assessment of six heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc) in 17 North Carolina basins that was conducted to estimate the risk of heavy metal toxicity to freshwater organisms and assess the sufficiency of NCDENR's monitoring data to identify water-quality-related ecological threats. Acute and chronic ecotoxicological thresholds (ETs) were calculated for each metal based upon the 10th percentile of species sensitivity distributions and were normalized for water hardness. Statewide probabilities (expressed as percentages) of a random sample exceeding acute or chronic ETs among the six metals ranged from 0.01% to 12.19% and 0.76% to 21.21%, respectively, with copper having the highest and arsenic and mercury the lowest risk. Basin-specific probabilities varied significantly depending upon water hardness and presumably watershed development. Although the majority of specific sites where data were collected were at low risk for metal toxicity, some specific sites had a high probability of toxic events associated with one or more metals. Analytical detection limits for metals were frequently higher than estimated chronic ET, limiting the ability to assess the risk of chronic toxicity in soft-water basins. Results suggest risk-based criteria may be useful for assessing and validating the sufficiency of monitoring programs and prioritizing management goals.     

Allocating anthropogenic pollutant emissions over space: application to ozone pollution management

An inventory of volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions is an important tool for the management of ground-level ozone pollution. This paper has two broad aims: it illustrates the potential of a geographic information system (GIS) for enhancing an existing spatially-aggregated, anthropogenic emissions inventory (EI) for Tucson, AZ, and it discusses the ozone-specific management implications of the resulting spatially-disaggregated EI. The main GIS-related methods include calculating emissions for specific features, spatially disaggregating region-wide emissions totals for area sources, and adding emissions from various point sources. In addition, temporal allocation factors enable the addition of a multi-temporal component to the inventory. The resulting inventory reveals that on-road motor vehicles account for approximately 50% of VOC and NOx emissions annually. On-road motor vehicles and residential wood combustion are the largest VOC sources in the summer and winter months, respectively. On-road motor vehicles are always the largest NOx sources. The most noticeable weekday vs. weekend VOC emissions differences are triggered by increased residential wood combustion and increased lawn and garden equipment use on weekends. Concerning the EI's uncertainties and errors, on-road mobile, construction equipment, and lawn and garden equipment are identified as sources in the most need of further investigation. Overall, the EIs spatial component increases its utility as a management tool, which might involve visualization-driven analyses and air quality modeling.     

石墨烯/血红素仿生涂层促进电活性微生物产电的效应和机理研究

阳极输出效率是决定生物电化学系统(BESs)能否实现工程化应用的基础和关键.但微生物/阳极界面的低效电子传递阻碍了 BESs整体输出效率的进一步提升.本研究通过模拟细胞色素c构建了一种石墨烯/血红素(GN/Hemin)复合仿生材料修饰的高性能BESs阳极.通过监测电活性菌ShewanellaloihicaPV-4的电能...     

Respect for Animal Autonomy in Bioethical Analysis: The Case of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS)

An analysis of the ethical impacts of the use of anAutomatic Milking System (AMS) is employed as a casestudy to illustrate the use of a form of bioethicalanalysis in technology assessment. The approach isbased on the Ethical Matrix, where `impacts' areassessed in terms of (lack of) respect for threeethical principles as applied to interest groups. Inthis case, only impacts on dairy cows are examined,and principally in terms of their behaviouralfreedom.In contrast to traditional milking systems, AMS, inprinciple, allow cows to present for milkingvoluntarily. So with AMS, it is claimed that dairymanagement relies on the autonomous interaction of thecow with her environment.One of the roles of bioethical analysis is to identifythe influence of rhetoric and symbolism in technologyassessment, e.g., with respect to the claimed`voluntariness' of cows' presentation. The AMS can beinstalled to allow cows three types of access, viz., i)free choice ii) rewarded access (RA) iii) obligatoryaccess (OA). Studies suggest the desire for milkremoval per se is not critical in the cow'sattendance at the AMS. Continued motivation to bemilked, required for the system to function,principally relies on RA and OA. Both RA and OA aresubject to numerous factors, such as: design of theAMS, location, etc. In turn, these can affect thecows' behavioural freedom and welfare.One of the aims of this approach is to illustrate theethical basis on which public policy is or can beformulated.     

Biodiversity Loss in Latin American Coffee Landscapes: Review of the Evidence on Ants,Birds, and Trees

Abstract: Studies have documented biodiversity losses due to intensification of coffee management (reduction in canopy richness and complexity). Nevertheless, questions remain regarding relative sensitivity of different taxa, habitat specialists, and functional groups, and whether implications for biodiversity conservation vary across regions. We quantitatively reviewed data from ant, bird, and tree biodiversity studies in coffee agroecosystems to address the following questions: Does species richness decline with intensification or with individual vegetation characteristics? Are there significant losses of species richness in coffee‐management systems compared with forests? Is species loss greater for forest species or for particular functional groups? and Are ants or birds more strongly affected by intensification? Across studies, ant and bird richness declined with management intensification and with changes in vegetation. Species richness of all ants and birds and of forest ant and bird species was lower in most coffee agroecosystems than in forests, but rustic coffee (grown under native forest canopies) had equal or greater ant and bird richness than nearby forests. Sun coffee (grown without canopy trees) sustained the highest species losses, and species loss of forest ant, bird, and tree species increased with management intensity. Losses of ant and bird species were similar, although losses of forest ants were more drastic in rustic coffee. Richness of migratory birds and of birds that forage across vegetation strata was less affected by intensification than richness of resident, canopy, and understory bird species. Rustic farms protected more species than other coffee systems, and loss of species depended greatly on habitat specialization and functional traits. We recommend that forest be protected, rustic coffee be promoted, and intensive coffee farms be restored by augmenting native tree density and richness and allowing growth of epiphytes. We also recommend that future research focus on potential trade‐offs between biodiversity conservation and farmer livelihoods stemming from coffee production.     

Prospective spatial prediction of infectious disease: experience of New York State (USA) with West Nile Virus and proposed directions for improved surveillance

Infectious disease surveillance has become an international top priority due to the perceived risk of bioterrorism. This is driving the improvement of real-time geo-spatial surveillance systems for monitoring disease indicators, which is expected to have many benefits beyond detecting a bioterror event. West Nile Virus surveillance in New York State (USA) is highlighted as a working system that uses dead American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) to prospectively indicate viral activity prior to human onset. A cross-disciplinary review is then presented to argue that this system, and infectious disease surveillance in general, can be improved by complementing spatial cluster detection of an outcome variable with predictive “risk mapping” that incorporates spatiotemporal data on the environment, climate and human population through the flexible class of generalized linear mixed models.

摇动床生物膜反应器处理生活污水

介绍了一种新型的生物膜反应器——摇动床反应器,并采用模拟生活污水进行了小试试验研究。试验结果表明,在HRT=6h,DO=3～4mg/L,T=20～25℃,pH=7～8,C/N=20的条件下,该工艺可以达到最佳运行状况,有机负荷为0.64～3.00kgCOD/(m3.d)下,COD去除率平均达到85%,出水TN≤10mg/L,达到国家一级排放标准。     

Study on difference of outburst elimination effect between sub-layers of soft coal and hard coal under the condition of gas per-drainage

The effect of drainage and outburst elimination are obviously different between soft and hard coal sub-layers under per-drainage of coal seam, and hence, the location of per-drainage borehole related to the soft sub-layer is the key that determines whether the outburst can be eliminated in whole coal seam. This paper discusses the differences between soft and hard coal from fields of pore radius distribution, pore structure, surface area and permeability, and the per-drainage effect was numerical simulated under different distance between per-drainage hole and soft sub-layer. Moreover, the optimum hole arrangement of outburst elimination is given in the paper. The result of research shows that the macro-pore with aperture that is larger than 50,000 nm, is dominant at about 50% in hard coal, correspondingly, the micro-pore with aperture less than 100 nm accounts for about 41.23% in soft coal. The surface area of soft coal is 1.6 times as that of hard coal. The residual gas content in soft coal sub-layer is obviously more than it in hard coal sub-layer under the same pre-drainage condition. To 5.5 m-thick coal seams which top is a soft coal sub-layer of 0.5 m-thick, pre-drainage gas can eliminate danger of gas outburst in whole coal seam at the seam time after 455 days drainage when the per-drainage holes are 1.0 m distances from the soft coal sub-layer.     

Optimizing conservation in species-specific agricultural landscapes

Recovery of grassland birds in agricultural landscapes is a global imperative. Agricultural landscapes are complex, and the value of resource patches may vary substantially among species. The spatial extent at which landscape features affect populations (i.e., scale of effect) may also differ among species. There is a need for regional-scale conservation planning that considers landscape-scale and species-specific responses of grassland birds to environmental change. We developed a spatially explicit approach to optimizing grassland conservation in the context of species-specific landscapes and prioritization of species recovery and applied it to a conservation program in Kentucky (USA). We used a hierarchical distance-sampling model with an embedded scale of effect predictor to estimate the relationship between landscape structure and abundance of eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna), field sparrows (Spizella pusilla), and northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus). We used a novel spatially explicit optimization procedure rooted in multi-attribute utility theory to design alternative conservation strategies (e.g., prioritize only northern bobwhite recovery or assign equal weight to each species’ recovery). Eastern meadowlarks and field sparrows were more likely to respond to landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies than landscape-scale patch densities. Northern bobwhite responded to both landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies and densities and responded strongly to increased grassland density. Effects of landscape features on local abundance decreased as distance increased and had negligible influence at 0.8 km for eastern meadowlarks (0.7–1.2 km 95% Bayesian credibility intervals [BCI]), 2.5 km for field sparrows (1.5–5.8 km 95% BCI), and 8.4 km for bobwhite (6.4–26 km 95% BCI). Northern bobwhites were predicted to benefit greatly from future grassland conservation regardless of conservation priorities, but eastern meadowlark and field sparrow were not. Our results suggest similar species can respond differently to broad-scale conservation practices because of species-specific, distance-dependent relationships with landscape structure. Our framework is quantitative, conceptually simple, customizable, and predictive and can be used to optimize conservation in heterogeneous ecosystems while considering landscape-scale processes and explicit prioritization of species recovery.