Shallow groundwater of the huge deltaic systems of Asia like the Red River Delta in Vietnam is often enriched in inorganic arsenic (As), threatening the health of millions of residents. The massive abstraction of groundwater in these areas locally causes an irreversible mixing of arsenic-free groundwater resources with arsenic-rich groundwater. Increased concentrations of competitive anions, especially phosphate (PO43-), decrease the immobilization capacity of the sediments. During transport, the mobility of dissolved As in local aquifers is strongly influenced by adsorption to sedimentary and ubiquitously occurring iron(oxyhydr)oxides. Additionally, arsenic-rich groundwater is often enriched in reduced iron (Fe2+) as well, which is capable to react with iron(oxyhydr)oxides, thereby inducing mineral transformations. Such transformations permanently affect the arsenic adsorption and immobilization capacity of the sediments.Within the scope of this research project, the underlying mechanisms related to As transport and the resulting threat to arsenic-free groundwater resources will be characterized in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). The research concept aims at assessing the complex interactions within the arsenic-iron-phosphate-system under field conditions at a study site next to the Red River. First, filtration experiments using local groundwater enriched in As and PO43- will be used to determine the As adsorption capacity of different and previously geochemically characterized iron(oxyhydr)oxides. In a second step, sample carrier containing As loaded iron(oxyhydr)oxides will be introduced into surface near aquifer parts of the study site (via existing groundwater monitoring wells). These samples will be exposed to local groundwater characterized by increased As, Fe2+ and PO43- concentrations for the following nine months. Using the in situ exposition of predefined iron(oxyhydr)oxides, it will be possible to distinguish potential mineral transformations and their influences on the As immobilization capacity of the respective iron(oxyhydr)oxides. By combining the results and outcomes of the field experiments, new and important conclusions regarding the mobility of As can be drawn. The data can be used to create a hydrochemical transport model describing reactive As transport within the investigation area. In addition, the results of the in situ exposition experiments will allow to draw conclusions in respective to the long term As immobilization capacity of different iron(oxyhydr)oxides, which is an essential information regarding in situ decontamination techniques.
Das Geoportal der Metropolregion Hamburg ist der wesentliche Baustein der Geodateninfrastruktur der Metropolregion Hamburg (GDI-MRH). Es bündelt die Geodaten der Länder und Kommunen der Metropolregion Hamburg (MRH) und ergänzt diese durch übergreifende Themen, die teilweise bundesweit verfügbar sind oder von der Geschäftsstelle der Metropolregion erfasst oder erworben werden. Die im Geoportal MRH präsentierten Daten liegen in der Zuständigkeit verschiedener Akteure in der MRH. Weitere Informationen zu den Nutzungsbedingungen und inhaltlichen Ansprechpersonen erhalten Sie über die Metadaten der einzelnen Datensätze. Eine vollumfängliche Übersicht über die Datensätze des Geoportals bietet der Themenbaum des Geoportals MRH.
Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen dominieren dieses Thema. Die Hochschulen bilden die Grundlage für spezialisierten Aufbau von Wissen. Über die Metropolregion verteilt bieten diverse , teils auch kleinere private Hochschulen international ausgerichtete Standards an. Neben den Hochschulen beheimatet die Metropolregion eine große Zahl an weltweit renommierten Forschungseinrichtungen, die in ihrer bandbreite die Internationalität der Metropolregion widerspiegelt. Unterschiedlichste Bereiche werden dabei abgedeckt. Detailiertere Informationen zu diesen Themen erhalten Sie auf den Internetseiten der Metropolregion Hamburg unter: http://metropolregion.hamburg.de/hochschulen/ und http://metropolregion.hamburg.de/forschungseinrichtungen/
Web Map Service (WMS) mit Geofachdaten aus der Metropolregion Hamburg. Diese Geofachdaten haben unterschiedliche Quellen. Teilweise ist die Geschäftsstelle der Metropolregion für die Herkunft der Daten zuständig. Teilweise wurden die Daten aus unterschiedlichen Quellen zusammengestellt. Folgende Themen werden abgebildet: * Lieblingsplätze für Aktive * Lieblingslätze am Wasser * Lieblingslätze im Grünen * Ladestandorte für Elektrofahrzeuge * Forschungseinrichtungen * Golfplätze * Hochschulen * Historische Kulturlandschaften * Industriekultur * Naturerlebnisse * Programmkinos * Sportboothäfen * Große Verkehrsprojekte Straße, Schiene und Wasser der dargestellten Daten. Zur genaueren Beschreibung der Daten und Datenverantwortung nutzen Sie bitte den Verweis zur Datensatzbeschreibung.
Web Feature Service (WFS) mit Fachthemen aus der Metropolregion Hamburg. Diese Geofachdaten haben unterschiedliche Quellen. Teilweise ist die Geschäftsstelle der Metropolregion für die Herkunft der Daten zuständig. Teilweise wurden die Daten aus unterschiedlichen Quellen zusammengestellt. Folgende Themen werden abgebildet: * Lieblingsplätze für Aktive * Lieblingslätze am Wasser * Lieblingslätze im Grünen * Ladestandorte für Elektrofahrzeuge * Forschungseinrichtungen * Golfplätze * Hochschulen * Historische Kulturlandschaften * Industriekultur * Naturerlebnisse * Programmkinos * Sportboothäfen * Große Verkehrsprojekte Straße, Schiene und Wasser Erläuterung zum Fachbezug: Open Source
Egypt passed a revolution and changed its political system, but many problems are still lacking a solution. Especially in the field of water the North African country has to face many challenges. Most urgent are strategies to manage the limited water resources. About 80% of the available water resources are consumed for agriculture and the rest are for domestic and industrial activities. The management of these resources is inefficient and a huge amount of fresh water is discarded. The shortage of water supply will definitely influence the economic and cultural development of Egypt. In 2010, Egypt was ranked number 8 out of 165 nations reviewed in the so-called Water Security Risk Index published by Maplecroft. The ranking of each country in the index depends mainly on four key factors, i.e. access to improved drinking water and sanitation, the availability of renewable water and the reliance on external supplies, the relationship between available water and supply demands, and the water dependency of each countrys economy. Based on this study, the situation of water in Egypt was identified as extremely risky. A number of programs and developed strategies aiming to efficiently manage the usage of water resources have been carried out in the last few years by the Egyptian Government. But all these activities, however, require the availability of trained and well-educated individuals in water technology fields. Unfortunately, the number of water science graduates are decreasing and also there are few teaching and training courses for water science offered in Egypt. However, there is still a demand for several well-structured and international programs to fill the gap and provide the Egyptian fresh graduates with the adequate and up-to-date theoretical and practical knowledge available for water technology. IWaTec is designed to fill parts of this gap.
In recent years science has taken an increased interest in mineralization processes in tropical soils in particular under minimal tillage operations. Plant litter quality and management strongly affect mineralization-nitrification processes in soil and hence the fate of nitrogen in ecosystems and the environment. Plant secondary metabolites like lignin and polyphenols are poorly degradable and interact with proteins (protein binding capacity) and hence protect them from microbial attack. Nitrification, a microbiological process, directly and indirectly influences the efficiency of recovery of N in the vegetation as well as the loss of N (through denitrification and leaching) causing environmental pollution to water bodies and contributes to global warming (e.g. the greenhouse gas N2O is emitted as a by-product of nitrification and denitrification). Nitrifiers comprise a relatively narrow species diversity (at least as known to date) and are generally thought to be sensitive to low soil pH and stress. Despite these properties nitrification occurs in acid tropical soils with high levels of aluminium and manganese. Thus the main objective of the project will be the identification of micro-organisms and mechanisms responsible for mineralization-nitrification processes in acid tropical soils and the influence of long-term litter input of different chemical qualities and minimal tillage options. The project will include the use of stable isotopes (15N, 13C), mass spectrometry, gas chromatography (CO2, N2O), biochemical methods (PLFA) and molecular biology (16s rRNA., PCR, DGGE)
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.
Our long term activities aim at a functional understanding of alpine plant life. Overall our research shifted gradually from studying resource acquisition (e.g. photosynthesis) toward resource investment and questions of developement. As with treeline, sink activity seems to be the major determinant of growth. A common misconception associated with alpine plant life finds its expression in the use of the terms 'stress' and 'limitation'. See the critique in: Körner C (1998) Alpine plants: stressed or adapted? In: Press MC, Scholes JD, Barker MG (eds.) Physiological Plant Ecology. Blackwell Science , 297-311. Ongoing experimental work: The influence of photoperiod on growth and development in high elevation taxa (Ph.D. by Franziska Keller in cooperation with the Dept. of Geography, University of Fribourg). We test, whether and which species are responsive to earlier snow melt. It appears there exists a suite of different sensitivities, suggesting biodiversity shifts. We also tested the influence of nutrient addition on high elevation pioneer plants and run a longer term project on the interactive effect on sheep tramplng, nitrogen deposition and warming as part of the Swiss National Project NFP 48. A Europe-wide assessment of ground temperatures in alpine grassland is part of ALPNET (see associated organisations). The assessment provides a basis for comparing biodiversity in alpine biota from 69 to 37 degree of northern latitude. (Nagy et al. (2003) Ecological Studies, Vol. 167. 577 p. Springer, Berlin). A synthesis of research in functional ecology of alpine plants over the past 100 years was published in 1999.
Die Zielsetzung von in situ-Messungen an wohldefinierten Einkristall-Modellkatalysatoren ist der Transfer des innerhalb des Ultrahochvakuum-Surface Science-Ansatzes etablierten, rigorosen und atomaren Verständnisses hin zu technologisch relevanten atmosphärischen Drücken. In entsprechenden Strömen und dabei typischerweise weit höheren Umsätzen werden Wärme- und Massentransportlimitierungen im Gas-Oberfläche-System immer wichtiger. Solche Flusseffekte in den komplexen in situ-Reaktorkammern gilt es sorgfältig zu analysieren, zu kontrollieren und idealerweise zu separieren, um das angestrebte molekulare Verständnis der aufgelösten Reaktionschemie an der Oberfläche zu ermöglichen. In diesem Projekt sollen diese Anstrengungen von theoretischer Seite durch Entwicklung eines ab initio-basierten Multiskalenmodellierungsansatzes ergänzt werden, der von den oberflächenkatalytischen Elementarprozessen bis zu den makroskopischen Flussprofilen reicht. Durch Integration von mikrokinetischen ab initio kinetische Monte Carlo (1pkMC) Formulierungen in das OpenFoam/CatalyticFoam Computational Fluid Dynamics Programmpaket wollen wir speziell frei verfügbare und allgemein einsetzbare Methodik aufbauen, die explizit die Reaktions-Transport-Kopplung in vollaufgelösten in situ-Reaktorkammern beschreibt. Auf der Seite der Materiallücke wird der Ansatz von Einkristalloberflächen zu Modellkatalysatoren erweitert, in denen Nanopartikel auf einem planaren Träger aufgebracht sind. Für beide Entwicklungsrichtungen erwarten wir noch stärkere und komplexere Transportlimitierungen als bereits von uns in vorherigen Arbeiten für idealisierte Flussgeometrien gezeigt. Die konzeptionelle Diskussion und Entwicklung wird hierbei bereits stark dazu beitragen, die Lücke zwischen physikochemischer und verfahrenstechnischer Forschung in der heterogenen Katalyse weiter zu schließen. Darüber hinaus wird die entwickelte 1pkMC-Fluss-Technologie eingesetzt, um quantitativ in situ Röntgen-Photoelektronenspektroskopie-Daten für die CO-Oxidation an Pd(100) zu modellieren.