Das Projekt "Steady-State Dilution and Mixing-Controlled Reactions in Three-Dimensional Heterogeneous Porous" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Zentrum für Angewandte Geowissenschaften (ZAG), Arbeitsgruppe Hydrogeology durchgeführt. Understanding transport of contaminants is fundamental for the management of groundwater re-sources and the implementation of remedial strategies. In particular, mixing processes in saturated porous media play a pivotal role in determining the fate and transport of chemicals released in the subsurface. In fact, many abiotic and biological reactions in contaminated aquifers are limited by the availability of reaction partners. Under steady-state flow and transport conditions, dissolved reactants come into contact only through transverse mixing. In homogeneous porous media, transverse mixing is determined by diffusion and pore-scale dispersion, while in heterogeneous formations these local mixing processes are enhanced. Recent studies investigated the enhancement of transverse mixing due to the presence of heterogeneities in two-dimensional systems. Here, mixing enhancement can solely be attributed to flow focusing within high-permeability inclusions. In the proposed work, we will investigate mixing processes in three dimensions using high-resolution laboratory bench-scale experiments and advanced modeling techniques. The objective of the proposed research is to quantitatively assess how 3-D heterogeneity and anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity affect mixing processes via (i) flow focusing and de-focusing, (ii) increase of the plume surface, (iii) twisting and intertwining of streamlines and (iv) compound-specific diffusive/dispersive properties of the solute species undergoing transport. The results of the experimental and modeling investigation will allow us to identify effective large-scale parameters useful for a correct description of conservative and reactive mixing at field scales allowing to explain discrepancies between field observations, bench-scale experiments and current stochastic theory.
Das Projekt "Barley dwarfs acting big in agronomy. Identification of genes and characterization of proteins involved in dwarfism, lodging resistance and crop yield" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft durchgeführt. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an important cereal grain which serves as major animal fodder crop as well as basis for malt beverages or staple food. Currently barley is ranked fourth in terms of quantity of cereal crops produced worldwide. In times of a constantly growing world population in conjunction with an unforeseeable climate change and groundwater depletion, the accumulation of knowledge concerning cereal growth and rate of yield gain is important. The Nordic Genetic Resource Center holds a major collection of barley mutants produced by irradiation or chemical treatment. One phenotypic group of barley varieties are dwarf mutants (erectoides, brachytic, semidwarf, uzu). They are characterized by a compact spike and high rate of yield while the straw is short and stiff, enhancing the lodging resistance of the plant. Obviously they are of applied interest, but they are also of scientific interest as virtually nothing is known about the genes behind the development of plant dwarfism. The aim of this project is to identify and isolate the genes carrying the mutations by using state of the art techniques for gene cloning at the Carlsberg Laboratory. The identified genes will be connected with the mutant phenotype to reveal the gene function in general. One or two genes will be overexpressed and the resulting recombinant proteins will be biochemically and structurally characterized. The insights how the mutation effects the protein will display the protein function in particular. Identified genes and their mutant alleles will be tested in the barley breeding program of the Carlsberg brewery.
Das Projekt "Upwind: Development of Improved Wind Turbine Noise Prediction Tools for Low Noise Airfoil Design" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik durchgeführt. The noise regulations of various countries urge wind turbine manufacturers to reduce the aerodynamical noise emission of their turbines. To reduce the greenhouse gas emission, wind energy has been put in a very front position. EWEA estimates 12percent of worlds energy may come from wind turbines by the year 2020 (approx. 1,260,000 MW). This means wider deployment of wind turbines, at lower wind speed sites i.e. close to people & transmission lines. To reduce the transmission cost between production site and customer, onshore installations are still a cheaper solution. One of the biggest barriers for developing onshore turbines is the noise which has a negative impact on people's daily life. Thus, the goal of developing onshore wind turbines is to design silent wind turbines and silent wind farms and at the same time have a good aerodynamic efficiency. Noise emitted from an operating wind turbine can be divided into two parts, mechanical noise and flow induced noise. Mechanical noise can sufficiently be reduced by conventional engineering approaches but flow-induced noise is more complex and need more focus. The noise mechanisms associated with flow-induced noise emission have different sources. These are, inflow turbulence noise, tip noise, laminar boundary layer separation noise, blunt trailing-edge noise (BTE) and for turbulent boundary-layer trailing-edge interaction noise (TBL-TE). Acoustic field measurements within the European research project SIROCCO showed that the TBL-TE noise is the most dominant noise mechanism for modern wind turbines. Thus, accurate prediction and reduction of the TBL-TE noise is the main focus of the acoustics airfoil design methods for wind turbine rotor blade. For developing 'silent' airfoils, a routinely design fast, less expensive and accurate prediction methodology is desired. In this respect, simplified theoretical model would be the first candidate, and therefore the main goal is development of an accurate and efficient noise prediction model for the low noise wind turbine blade design.
Das Projekt "Immobilisation of arsenic in paddy soil by iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Tübingen, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Zentrum für Angewandte Geowissenschaften durchgeführt. Arsenic-contaminated ground- and drinking water is a global environmental problem with about 1-2Prozent of the world's population being affected. The upper drinking water limit for arsenic (10 Micro g/l) recommended by the WHO is often exceeded, even in industrial nations in Europe and the USA. Chronic intake of arsenic causes severe health problems like skin diseases (e.g. blackfoot disease) and cancer. In addition to drinking water, seafood and rice are the main reservoirs for arsenic uptake. Arsenic is oftentimes of geogenic origin and in the environment it is mainly bound to iron(III) minerals. Iron(III)-reducing bacteria are able to dissolve these iron minerals and therefore release the arsenic to the environment. In turn, iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria have the potential to co-precipitate or sorb arsenic during iron(II)- oxidation at neutral pH followed by iron(III) mineral precipitation. This process may reduce arsenic concentrations in the environment drastically, lowering the potential risk for humans dramatically.The main goal of this study therefore is to quantify, identify and isolate anaerobic and aerobic Fe(II)-oxidizing microorganisms in arsenic-containing paddy soil. The co-precipitation and thus removal of arsenic by iron mineral producing bacteria will be determined in batch and microcosm experiments. Finally the influence of rhizosphere redox status on microbial Fe oxidation and arsenic uptake into rice plants will be evaluated in microcosm experiments. The long-term goal of this research is to better understand arsenic-co-precipitation and thus arsenic-immobilization by iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria in rice paddy soil. Potentially these results can lead to an improvement of living conditions in affected countries, e.g. in China or Bangladesh.
Das Projekt "E 4.1: Quality and food safety issues in markets for high-value products in Thailand and Vietnam" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Agrar- und Sozialökonomie in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. The production and marketing of high-value agricultural commodities - such as fruits, vegetables, and livestock products - has been an important source of cash income for small-scale farmers in the northern mountainous regions of Thailand and Vietnam. However, against the background of recent free trade agreements and market liberalization, there is increasing national and international competition, partly leading to significant price decreases. Given structural disadvantages of farmers in northern Thailand and Vietnam, it will be very difficult for them to achieve and maintain a competitive position in markets for undifferentiated high-value products. Therefore, product differentiation - in terms of health attributes (e.g., low-pesticide residues, free from diseases and pathogens), taste (e.g., indigenous livestock breeds), time (e.g., off-season production), or processing characteristics (e.g., packaging, drying, canning) - could be a promising alternative. Quality and safety attributes play an increasing role in domestic and international food trade. The additional value generated could lead to sustainable income growth in the small farm sector, but this potential will only materialize when appropriate institutional mechanisms help reduce transaction costs and allow a fair distribution of benefits. This subproject seeks to analyze how the production and marketing of high-value agricultural products with quality and safety attributes can contribute to pro-poor development in northern Thailand and Vietnam. Quality and safety attributes can only generate value when they directly respond to consumer demand. Furthermore, since they are often credence attributes, the product identity has to be preserved from farm to fork. Therefore, the analysis will cover the whole supply chain, from agricultural production to final household consumption. Interview-based surveys of farmers, intermediate agents, and consumers will be carried out in Thailand, and to a limited extent also in Vietnam. The data will be analyzed econometrically with regard to the structure of high-value markets, trends and their determinants, and efficiency and equity implications of different institutional arrangements (e.g., contract agriculture, supermarket procurement). Since in northern Vietnam, the marketing of high-value products is a relatively recent activity, markets for more traditional crops will be analyzed as well, to better understand the linkages between different cash-earning activities in the semi-subsistent farm households. Apart from their direct policy relevance, the results will contribute to the broader research direction of the economics of high-value agricultural markets in developing countries. Moreover, they will generate useful information for other subprojects of the Uplands Program.
Das Projekt "Electrification through Micro Hydro Power Sites in Rural Indonesia" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. RWI, Kompetenzbereich Umwelt und Ressourcen durchgeführt. While urban Indonesia is almost completely electrified, two-thirds of the rural population still lack access to electricity. In many cases, the mountainous rural areas are difficult to access and sparsely populated implying high investment costs for infrastructure extension. Against this background the German International Cooperation (GIZ) supports the implementation of micro hydro plants (MHP) in rural communities to supply the population with decentralized electricity. During its first project phase between 2006 and 2009, GIZ has supported the construction of 96 MHPs on two of the five main islands of Indonesia, Sulawesi and Sumatra. These activities have been funded as part of the Dutch-German Energy Partnership Energising Development (EnDev), an output-oriented programme that aims at providing modern energy to 6.1 million people in 21 countries. In a second project phase starting in 2010 (EnDev II), more than 200 micro-hydro schemes are planned to be supported. RWI has been assigned to assess the socio-economic impacts of electrification through MHP on household level through both a cross-sectional and a difference in differences approach. For this purpose, 800 households were interviewed in a first survey wave in September and November 2010. Half of them are located in 20 EnDev II villages that only got connected to an MHP after data collection. The remainder of the sample has already been using electricity at that time from a working micro hydro scheme supported within EnDev I. The second survey wave is scheduled for autumn 2012. The cross-sectional arm of the study allowed for gauging the impacts of the connection to an MHP already after the first wave at the end of 2010. For the electrified, hence, treated EnDev I households, comparable EnDev II households have been used as controls. Having follow-up data at hand at the end of 2012, difference in differences estimators can be applied to more rigorously assess the impacts of the connection to an MHP. In this approach, the EnDev I households already connected in 2010 and still connected in 2012 will serve as a reference group for the EnDev II households who got treated between the 2010 and 2012 survey. This prevents that changes induced by external influences (e.g. general economic development) are falsely ascribed to the treatment. For the reference group of EnDev II households it was found in 2010 that an important share already used 'pre-electrification' sources like generators or very simple traditional waterwheels - so called kincirs. The impact assessment will therefore not only illustrate the change from traditional energy sources like kerosene to electricity but also deliver impact findings on using a modern electricity source in comparison to pre-electrification sources that tend to be either costly and dirty (generators), or unstable and weak (kincir).
Das Projekt "Small Hydropower Systems Design for Rural Electrification" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Wasserbau und Technische Hydromechanik durchgeführt. Background: Ethiopia is a country endowed with huge hydropower potential. However, the potential has not been well exploited and the per capita consumption in the country stands as one of the lowest in the world. With this problem in mind, one of the primary objectives of the Energy policy of the government of Ethiopia has been to ensure a reliable supply of energy at the right time and at affordable prices, particularly to support the agricultural development led industrialisation strategy. While the objective is well tailored to the immediate need of rural communities, its implementation lagged much behind expectations. In order to accelerate the energy supply in Ethiopia, the government recently passed the law to allow private power developers to install and operate small to mini-hydropower plants. It is, therefore, hoped that there will be a significant number of independent power produces (IPPs) in the coming decades. While the decision to allow private investment is a good step forward, private investment alone may not produce the necessary break-through in Rural Electrification (RE) in Ethiopia. By its very nature, private investment is mainly profit-oriented which may be guaranteed by RE projects only in the long-run. This is so because the implementation of a self-standing hydropower plant for ruralenergy supply is a challenging task as it is faced by many constraints. There arises, therefore, the fear that the need for an organisation with a clear mandate and responsibility and with a substantial budget to promote RE may be obscured by the assumption that RE largely falls under the domain of private investment. The main objective of this research is, therefore, to find out if such fears are justified. The research bases itself on information on current power supply conditions in Ethiopia by taking an appropriate site for a case study. Objective of the research: The objective of this research is to give a reasonable judgement as to whether RE should be taken as part of the infrastructure development plans of the nation with strong financial support from the government or whether it should be largely left open for private investment. It is sought to find an answer to the question whether the role of RE should be undertaken by a mandated organisation with the necessary budget or whether RE should be dictated by the existing power market structure.
Das Projekt "'CADY' Central Asian Climate Dynamics" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Berlin, Institut für Meteorologie WE03, Fachrichtung Wechselwirkung im Klimasystem der Erde, Arbeitsgruppe Modellierung des Klimasystems durchgeführt. Global climate change is one of the key concerns of the 21st century, with serious implications for economies, societies and the environment. Central Asia, though rich in mineral resources, suffers from water scarcity. Since all the Central Asian countries rely heavily on irrigated agriculture, future climate change will strongly impact water availability, energy security, and sustainable development in the region. This issue needs to be urgently addressed, because any changes in the factors governing regional hydrology, or the magnitude of their impact (e.g. severity of droughts and floods) would be critical for infrastructural planning and securing food supplies in a global warming scenario. The project CADY (Central Asian Climate Dynamics) aims to reconstruct the Holocene climate variability and regional hydrology in the Central Asia along two W-E transects sandwiching the Tibetan Plateau and one N-S transect cutting across the Plateau. We will use a multiarchive, multiproxy approach and additionally focus on selected time slices (e.g. early Holocene warm period, the Medieval Warm Period, the Little ice age etc). Palaeoclimate simulations of different duration and on selected time slices will be carried out using the generated data. The combination of proxy data and model simulations will lead to an improved understanding of the physical mechanisms controlling the monsoon dynamics.
Das Projekt "Human dimensions and urban landscape development - A case study in Suzhou, China" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften, Professur für Landespflege durchgeführt. Humanity has influenced and changed the large majority of the earths landscapes, especially those in urban areas. There is no doubt that it is crucial to include human dimensions - perceptions, attitudes, preferences etc. - in terms of landscape inheritance, conservation, development and management or what. Public perception and preference research has a long lasting history in landscape subjects, and has been playing an important role in practical implementation. This study will be conducted in Suzhou, China - a typical Chinese city with numerous ancient cultural heritages and facing endless modernization and urbanization. Literate review will be thoroughly carried out on respect to the processes, states, significances of human dimensions for landscapes. The interpretation of historical materials about landscape changes during decades of the research site will be completed. The targeted objects will be the residents there and visitors. There are still more than 200.000 permanent residents living in the research core, who represent the main force of conserving the ancient heritages lasted thousands years. Therefore, their attitudes towards the landscape changes, ancient landscape elements or symbols are vital, and should be included in routines for landscape design, management and conservation. Moreover, up to millions of visitors from both inside and outside of China come to Suzhou every year, which makes the study concerning their perceptions and preferences even more critical. The well-structured questionnaires, together with semi-open or open interviews will be applied aimed at different targeted groups, and the results will be interpreted and evaluated based on scientific theories and methodologies in both quantitative and qualitative ways. Eventually, how these findings could be used to inform the landscape policy-makers, designer, planner or managers and how to transfer the results into practical status in other cities of China or even in other developing countries facing the same dilemmas would be generated.
Das Projekt "Strategies and Tools to Assess and Implement noise Reducing measures for Railway Systems (STAIRRS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Deutsche Bahn AG, Bahn-Umwelt-Zentrum (VU) durchgeführt. Objective: STAIRRS proposal is a response to Task 2.2.2/5 in the 5th Framework Programme fi Sustainable Mobility and Intermodality: Competitive and Sustainable Growth fl It contains three work Packages: WP1 Development of a tool for a common European scale cost benefit study of different options for implementing low noise solutions, leading to industrial development and implementation of optimal solutions on a local, national and international level. WP2 Refinement of assessment of noise from railway systems, using advanced procedures to prevent the need to duplicate measurements for interoperable vehicles, and thus reduce testing costs. by providing values applicable to various countries, by a single operation. Such methods will also allow separation of vehicle and track contributions to rolling noise. WP3 action to strategy makers using results from WP1 and WP2. Prime Contractor: Stichting European Rail Research Institute; Utrecht; Nederland.
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