The natural capital of forests consists to a great extend of the forests environmental functions for human well-being, which not only include goods and services (source and sink functions) but also include life-support functions that reflect ecosystem performance (ecosystem functioning). Shifting the management approach from a traditional one to one that is more aware of the ecosystem complexity, the idea of 'ecosystem functioning is appearing to tackle gradual declines of ecosystem functions. Within CBDs framework, the Ecosystem Approach has been introduced on account of the necessity for open decision making with strong links between all stakeholders and the latest scientific knowledge due to uncertainty and unpredictability in nature. The Ecosystem Approach is still in need of further elaboration, even though as a concept Ecosystem Approach has been widely accepted. To aim forest enhancement, this approach has been regarded as the most feasible concept for the study area, the Bengawan Solo River Basin - Java, Indonesia. Therefore the principles and operational guidelines will be used to analyse and evaluate the current forest management in those areas of the Bengawan Solo River Basin, in which ecosystem function is the basis for forest development area. This research focuses on ecological functions of forests at various levels of ecosystem management planning, from the forestry sectors point of view.
The broad objective of the research is to gain a fundamental understanding of the surface reaction chemistry of exhaust catalysts operating under cycling conditions. Using an integrated theoretical approach we specifically target NOx abatement, with particular emphasis on the appearance and destruction of surface oxide phases as the reactor conditions cycle from oxidative to reductive during the operation of the NOx Storage Reduction (NSR) catalyst system. Methodologically this requires material-specific, quantitative and explicitly time-dependent simulation tools that can follow the evolution of the system over the macroscopic time-scales of NSR cycles, while simultaneously accounting for the atomic-scale site heterogeneity and spatial distributions at the evolving surface. To meet these challenging demands we will develop a novel multi-scale methodology relying on a multi-lattice first-principles kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) approach. As representative example the simulations will be carried out on a PdO(101)/Pd(100) surface oxide model, but care will be taken to ensure a generalization of the multi-lattice first-principles kMC approach to other systems in which phase transformations may occur and result in a change in the surface lattice structure depending upon environmental variables.
Irrigation in the Yanqi Basin, Sinkiang, China has led to water table rise and soil salination. A model is used to assess management options. These include more irrigation with groundwater, water saving irrigation techniques and others. The model relies on input data from remote sensing.The Yanqi Basin is located in the north-western Chinese province of Xinjiang.This agriculturally highly productive region is heavily irrigated with water drawn from the Kaidu River. The Kaidu River itself is mainly fed by snow and glacier melt from the Tian Mountain surrounding the basin. A very poor drainage system and an overexploitation of surface water have lead to a series of environmental problems: 1. Seepage water under irrigated fields has raised the groundwater table during the last years, causing strongly increased groundwater evaporation. The salt dissolved in the groundwater accumulates at the soil surface as the groundwater evaporates. This soil salinization leads to degradation of vegetation as well as to a loss of arable farmland. 2. The runoff from the Bostan Lake to the downstream Corridor is limited since large amount of water is used for irrigation in the Yanqi Basin. Nowadays, the runoff is maintained by pumping water from the lake to the river. The environmental and ecological system is facing a serious threat.In order to improve the situation in the Yanqi Basin, a jointly funded cooperation has been set up by the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) , China Institute of Geological and Environmental Monitoring (CIGEM) and Xinjiang Agricultural University. The situation could in principle be improved by using groundwater for irrigation, thus lowering the groundwater table and saving unproductive evaporation. However, this is associated with higher cost as groundwater has to be pumped. The major decision variable to steer the system into a desirable state is thus the ratio of irrigation water pumped from the aquifer and irrigation water drawn from the river. The basis to evaluate the ideal ratio between river and groundwater - applied to irrigation - will be a groundwater model combined with models describing the processes of the unsaturated zone. The project will focus on the following aspects of research: (...)
The development of sustainable and efficient energy conversion processes at interfaces is at the center of the rapidly growing field of basic energy science. How successful this challenge can be addressed will ultimately depend on the acquired degree of molecular-level understanding. In this respect, the severe knowledge gap in electro- or photocatalytic conversions compared to corresponding thermal processes in heterogeneous catalysis is staggering. This discrepancy is most blatant in the present status of predictive-quality, viz. first-principles based modelling in the two fields, which largely owes to multifactorial methodological issues connected with the treatment of the electrochemical environment and the description of the surface redox chemistry driven by the photo-excited charges or external potentials.Successfully tackling these complexities will advance modelling methodology in (photo)electrocatalysis to a similar level as already established in heterogeneous catalysis, with an impact that likely even supersedes the one seen there in the last decade. A corresponding method development is the core objective of the present proposal, with particular emphasis on numerically efficient approaches that will ultimately allow to reach comprehensive microkinetic formulations. Synergistically combining the methodological expertise of the two participating groups we specifically aim to implement and advance implicit and mixed implicit/explicit solvation models, as well as QM/MM approaches to describe energy-related processes at solid-liquid interfaces. With the clear objective to develop general-purpose methodology we will illustrate their use with applications to hydrogen generation through water splitting. Disentangling the electro- resp. photocatalytic effect with respect to the corresponding dark reaction, this concerns both the hydrogen evolution reaction at metal electrodes like Pt and direct water splitting at oxide photocatalysts like TiO2. Through this we expect to arrive at a detailed mechanistic understanding that will culminate in the formulation of comprehensive microkinetic models of the light- or potential-driven redox process. Evaluating these models with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations will unambiguously identify the rate-determining and overpotential-creating steps and therewith provide the basis for a rational optimization of the overall process. As such our study will provide a key example of how systematic method development in computational approaches to basic energy sciences leads to breakthrough progress and serves both fundamental understanding and cutting-edge application.
The priority program concentrates on the synthesis, the physical properties and the specific integration of functionality into Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a new class of porous materials surpassing significantly the adsorption capacity of established materials such as activated carbons and zeolites. They are characterized by a modular construction principle allowing for a rational design of custom made pore systems. Using suitable building blocks, the integration of specific interactions for molecules inside the framework shall be realized for the storage, sensing, transformation, or separation of molecular species inside MOFs. In this way, new materials for energy storage (for example hydrogen or methane) will be constructed. For sensor materials, a change of physical properties should be used for the detection of molecules. For the chemical transformation, materials are important, having specific active catalytic sites in the framework or the pores. In all cases, the focus is to achieve a basic understanding of the interactions of the framework and the adsorbed or reacting molecules. In this context, the experimental determination of the preferred adsorption sites and the dynamics of molecules inside the pore system are crucial. For this purpose, also modeling using modern theoretic methods is needed. In order to enhance the interdisciplinary exchange between chemists, materials scientists, physicists and engineers, generally only such projects will be funded, providing a synergistic cooperation of two or three PIs with different expertise in the following areas of competence: - Synthesis, structure, and reactivity of MOFs - Physical characterization of molecular interactions and dynamics - Theoretic description, simulation, and modeling - Systems and functions. In the program, the modular construction principles of MOFs are used in a rational way for the design of porous frameworks, with functions defined by the constituting building blocks. For the analysis of adsorption, diffusion, and the reaction of guests inside MOFs, structural changes of the molecules and dynamic processes in the frameworks are monitored. Energetic states of molecules inside MOFs and their dynamics are simulated using theoretic quantum chemical calculations and MD-methods for the interpretation of analytic methods and the prediction of functions. An important issue is the application and development of spectroscopic and diffraction methods for the in situ analysis. In this way, formation mechanisms of MOFs, molecular binding sites and catalytic mechanisms in the frameworks are illuminated. By testing the functionality of MOFs, the priority program evaluates the potential of porous Metal-Organic Frameworks in the areas of storage, recognition, separation, or catalytic transformation of molecules.
Objective: Space heating accounts for more than 50Prozent of the energy consumption of public & residential buildings, and reduction of this energy demand is a key strategy in the move to low energy/low carbon buildings. The careful management of air flow within a building forms part of this strategy through the control of inlet fresh air and exhaust air, maximising air re-circulation, and minimising the amount of fresh air which is often drawn in through a heat exchanger. However, there is a high risk that the air quality is reduced. Continued exposure to environments with poor air quality is a major public health concern in developed and developing countries. It is estimated that the pollutants responsible for poor air quality cause nearly 2.5 million premature deaths per year world-wide. Significantly, around 1.5 million of these deaths are due to polluted indoor air, and it is suggested that poor indoor air quality may pose a significant health risk to more than half of the world's population. Perhaps surprisingly, remedial action to improve air quality is often easy to implement. Relatively simple measures such as increased air flow through ventilation systems, or a greater proportion of fresh air to re-circulating air are sufficient to improve air quality. Low-energy air purification and detoxification technologies are available which will reduce the concentration of specific pollutants. Similarly, filtration systems (e.g. electrostatic filters) can be switched in to reduce the level of the particulate matter in the air (the principle pollutant responsible for poor health). The INTASENSE concept is to integrate a number of micro- and nano-sensing technologies onto a common detection platform with shared air-handling and pre-conditioning infrastructure to produce a low-cost miniaturised system that can comprehensively measure air quality, and identify the nature and form of pollutants. INTASENSE is a 3-year project which brings together 8 organisations from 5 countries.
Understanding the drivers behind the loss of biodiversity currently observed is of major importance in the context of the global change discussion. For studies of biodiversity at broad spatial scales, satellite remote sensing is the premier source of information, as it is uniquely capable of covering large areas of the Earth at high temporal resolution. The underlying assumption is that satellite-derived geophysical surface parameters, such as vegetation greenness, are related to biodiversity. For that purpose, concepts such as the Dynamic Habitat Index (DHI) were recently developed. The DHI combines information on the overall greenness, the base level of vegetation cover, and vegetation seasonality at a certain location. By comparing the annual DHI with a long term mean, areas undergoing disturbances or recovery events can be delineated, which are indicative of changes in species composition and diversity. The concept of the DHI was developed for data obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) post-2000. However, for climate change impact studies a longer time series is desirable. The only sensor system suitable for such applications is the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), which has been in orbit on various platforms since the early 1980ies. The purpose of this project was to develop a methodology to derive long term information on habitat conditions at continental scales based on historical satellite data. In particular, the goal was to adopt the principle of the DHI as developed for the MODIS sensor to an AVHRR archive at 1 km spatial resolution over Canada and to analyze long term variations in the DHI. In a first project phase, an AVHRR data set of vegetation greenness, generated in the framework of the project, was validated against the reference MODIS product. The results demonstrated a very good agreement between both data sets for a wide range of vegetation types and on various spatial and temporal scales. A historical baseline of habitat conditions post-1987 based on the DHI was subsequently generated based on the long term AVHRR data. The analysis of the DHI showed that certain areas, particularly northern parts of the Province of Quebec as well as southwestern Canada, experienced significant changes over the past two decades, which may have had significant impacts on species diversity and abundance in these areas. In the future, the methods developed in the framework of this project may be used to obtain information on long term variations in habitat conditions in areas covered by other historical satellite archives, e.g., for Europe based on an AVHRR archive hosted at the University of Bern.
Globalization raised the importance of food safety and quality concerns. Developed countries implement precautionary food regulation policies to protect their affluent consumers from unsafe food imported from developing and transition countries. However, the alarming number of trade disputes at WTO evidences cases of abuse of such policies. While claims on protectionist nature of food regulations are valid in principle, yet there is little empirical evidence about their economic effects. The questions of 1) quantification of trade impact of food standards and 2) investigation of national food regulation systems are absolutely essential for the new trade agenda. These problems for developing countries are on the focus of trade policy debate, whereas for transition countries are not considered seriously. Such a research for these recently liberalized markets gains a special significance. - The proposed research will employ Gravity Model for quantitative estimation of impact of EU aflatoxin standards on transition countries- exports.- Russian food regulations for cereal value chain, their enforcement and monitoring mechanisms will be investigated through value chain and cost-benefit analysis.- Compliance of Russian norms with EU standards will be estimated applying comparative advantage analysis.The study area is Stavropol region of the Russian Federation. Local experts will contribute to the construction of the research data set and analysis. The results of the research will assist 1) international policy makers in designing new global trade agenda and 2) Russian producers, exporters and decision makers in improving cereal value chain.
Water repellency (WR) plays a significant role in a large number of soils all over the world. In many regions global warming will lead to drier land surfaces and thus, increasing the likeliness of actual water repellency for such soils. The hydrological effects of WR (surface runoff, water erosion, preferential flow) have been relatively well investigated in the last decades. However, its effect on the energy balance between soil and atmosphere has not been studied yet. We postulate that global warming does not only lead to an increase in WR of soils, but WR has an impact on the energy balance and thus, will lead to a feedback on global warming. In order to test our hypothesis, we want to determine all components of the energy- and water balance between soil and atmosphere for a strongly water repellent soil. As a reference we want to repeat the same measurements for the same soil, at which the WR has been suspended by application of a surfactants. While the laboratory studies aim to give insight into more principle processes, the lysimeter (bare and with plants) and field scale studies shall give information about integrated complex natural processes. The gained knowledge shall be implemented into a numerical simulation tool for modeling water and energy balances in order to predict the effects of WR under different atmospheric conditions and physical soil properties.
The mission of the TIDE project will be to enhance the broad transfer and take-up of 15 innovative urban transport and mobility concepts throughout Europe and to make a visible contribution to establish them as mainstream measures. The TIDE partners will make a range of new and feasible solutions easily accessible to address key challenges of urban transport such as energy efficiency, decarbonisation, demographic change, safety, access for all and new economic and financial conditions. TIDE will focus on 15 innovative concepts in five thematic clusters: financing models and pricing measures (1), non-motorised transport (2), network and traffic management to support traveller information (3), electric vehicles (4) and public transport organisation (5). Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be a horizontal topic to integrate the cluster activities. The project will provide a strong approach in methodology, content and outreach. The needs of practitioners in European cities and regions will be a guiding principle. A particular focus will also be on providing guidance for finding cost-efficient solutions (cost-benefit analysis). The project will refine existing and well proven transferability methodologies and integrate them into an easy to apply handbook. Face-to-Face training and exchange events as well as guidelines and e-learning on how to successfully implement innovative solutions will be the key tools to effectively support a wide range of take-up candidates in overcoming real or perceived barriers to implementation. A broad portfolio of dissemination activities will ensure a high visibility of the project. TIDE will actively support 15 committed cities in developing implementation scenarios. They will demonstrate how to successfully prepare implementation of innovative solutions and provide examples to a wider group of cities. An experienced and committed consortium will ensure that the advanced project approach will achieve a well visible impact.
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