The Far‐Infrared Emission of Galaxies

C01 Study of local infrared bright galaxies with HERSHCEL‐PACS C02 PDR modeling of the COBE Far‐Infrared data of the Milky Way C03 MAMBO observations of BzK‐selected vigorous starburst galaxies at z ∼ 2 C04 Starburst galaxies in the far‐infrared. Modelling the line, PAH and dust continuum emission C05 The SED from isothermal clouds C06 PDRs in M83 and M51: The road to HIFI/Herschel and SOFIA C07 Large Scale Mapping of Molecular Gas in the Vicinity of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud C08 Modelling far‐infrared emission from dust in gas‐rich galaxies C09 [CII]/CO(1‐0) Line Ratio at low Metallicities C10 Gas, Stars and Dust in the Spiral Arms of M51 C11 The ISOPHOT 170 micron Serendipity Survey (ISOSS) catalog of optically identified galaxies C12 Spitzer Images of M33: A Probe to Radio‐FIR Correlation C13 Observations of far‐infrared emission from dust in gas‐rich galaxies C14 Dust and Gas in Nearby Galaxies: First Results from SINGS and THINGS C15 Sequential Starburst in Arp220?     

Hospital Laundry Wastewater Disinfection with Catalytic Photoozonation

Wastewater production in a hospital laundry and the treatment of the most critical wastewater stream, are assessed. Hospital laundry wastewaters are hazardous to the environment due to their high pollutant concentrations and the chemicals added during the clothes washing process. Heterogeneous photocatalysis with UV, O₃ and TiO₂ and their possible combinations were used for disinfection purposes. A ramp‐type reactor was used for TiO₂ (P25 Degussa) fixation and for photochemical diffusion of the ozonized air. After assessing 5‐day biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, pH, turbidity, and surfactant content, and checking for the presence of thermotolerant coliforms and Escherichia coli, it was concluded that UV/O₃/TiO₂ was the best process/combination, yielding a 100% disinfection rate and a microbiological inactivation of 0.5070 min^–1 for E. coli and of 0.5505 min^–1 for thermotolerant coliforms.     

Secular non-random variations of cosmogenic carbon-14 in the terrestrial atmosphere

The time dependence of the¹⁴C content of bristlecone pine wood samples dated by their tree rings and grown during the last 8000 years was examined. The¹⁴C values as measured by the La Jolla Radiocarbon Laboratory were used for the investigation.Two different smoothing techniques were used for constructing values for equal time intervals. In this manner the introduction of regularities, that could have resulted from applied mathematical techniques, could be excluded.There is good evidence for non-random features in the power spectrum, in particular for a 200-year periodicity.The regularities in the power spectrum are further indications supporting the assumption that the¹⁴C variations reflect a property of the sun.     

On sediment pollution in selected german coastal waters of the Baltic Sea

In order to determine and assess their status sediments from the German coastal waters of the baltic sea were analyzed for structural parameters and for several groups of harmful substances. Regarding all groups of harmful substances, i.e. nutrients, heavy metals and organic toxicants the sediments of the eastern sections investigated (Strelasund, Peenestrom and Stettin Lagoon) are generally more polluted than the sediments of the other ones.The sediments of the examined sections of the Baltic coast compare with North Sea sediments by factors of between 0.05 and 4 with regard to heavy metals.Because of the variability of the concentration of harmful substances in the various coastal sections, it is imperative to make a differentiated assessment of the polluted sediments and to set district-related targets for the various sections of the Baltic coast.     

Modelling the response of glaciers to a doubling in atmospheric CO2: a case study of Storglaciären, northern Sweden

To predict the evolution of glaciers in an enhanced greenhouse climate, results from a global climate model, a glacier melt/accumulation model, and a glacier flow model were combined. The method was applied to Storglaciären, a small well-studied glacier in northern Sweden. The difference between the present climate and a 2 × CO₂ climate around the year 2050 was extracted from a model experiment with the ECHAM4-T106 high resolution climate model for time slices at present and in 2050, using prescribed boundary conditions of sea surface temperature and sea-ice distribution, which are derived from a lower resolution transient run of the ECHAM4-T42/OPIC-coupled atmosphere ocean model between present and 2050. The local climatic conditions on the glacier for 2050 were obtained by adding the modelled local climate changes to the observed local present-day climate. The combination of the comprehensive models presented offers a tool to test and calibrate simplified models which are applicable to a much larger sample of glaciers. For the region of Storglaciären, the GCM projected temperature is found to increase most strongly during the winter months, but also shows a warming during the transition from spring to summer, and again between summer and fall, thus extending the melt season by three to four weeks. Precipitation, on the other hand, decreases by approximately 5% during May to September while there is a stronger increase of approximately 14% for the rest of the year. The consequent increase in winter accumulation on Storglaciären is more than compensated by the increase in ablation during the melt season. The glacier flow model predicts a 300 m retreat of the glacier terminus by the middle of the next century, and a loss of 30% of the present ice mass.     

The geography of global urban greenhouse gas emissions: an exploratory analysis

The purpose of this paper is to describe global urban greenhouse gas emissions by region and sector, examine the distribution of emissions through the urban-to-rural gradient, and identify covariates of emission levels for our baseline year, 2000. We use multiple existing spatial databases to identify urban extent, greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂, N₂O, CH₄ and SF₆) and covariates of emissions in a “top-down” analysis. The results indicate that urban activities are significant sources of total greenhouse gas emissions (36.8 and 48.6 % of total). The urban energy sector accounts for between 41.5 and 66.3 % of total energy emissions. Significant differences exist in the urban share of greenhouse gas emissions between developed and developing countries as well as among source sectors for geographic regions. The 50 largest urban emitting areas account for 38.8 % of all urban greenhouse gas emissions. We find that greenhouse gas emissions are significantly associated with population size, density, growth rates, and per capita income. Finally, comparison of our results to “bottom-up” estimates suggest that this research’s data and techniques are best used at the regional and global scales.     

A Comparison of an Ecological Model and GIS Spatial Analysis to Describe Niche Partitioning Amongst Carrion Beetles in Nebraska

Carrion beetles depend on vertebrate carcasses to rear their young. Carcasses are a limited resource with patchy distribution, and there is an intense competition among many species for these carcasses. This situation is expected to lead to niche partitioning, such that different beetle species use different resources and thus escape direct competition. Our project used a geographic information system (GIS) and pitfall sampling to characterize carrion beetle preferences for soil texture and land use in Kearney County, Nebraska. The GIS was used to select sites where sampling was conducted using pitfall traps baited with rat carcasses. Attracted beetles were counted, identified to species, and released. The resulting data were used to construct occurrence maps of eleven species of carrion beetles by overlaying soil texture and land use. We then compared the results of EcoSim (an ecological simulation model of niche overlap) with GIS–generated maps of probability of carrion beetle occurrence. Our results are consistent with landscape–level niche partitioning by seven of the eleven examined species. Our application of GIS to the spatial analysis of carrion beetle distributions demonstrates how this technology can be used to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses, predict habitat associations, and examine the effects of land use on a community of insects. This work could easily be extended to study the habitat preferences of the federally endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus .