Fracking, Warming, and Systemic Leadership

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Thompson ◽  
Leila Zakhirova
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extraction Methods ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
International Standing

In the past, states with access to cheap and abundant sources of energy were able to develop radical new technology that paired core innovations with new fuels. Given the strong relationship between global warming and fossil fuels, in this chapter we ask whether the emergence of unconventional fuels and extraction methods are likely to make a significant difference for the relative international standing of the United States now and China perhaps later. Should the expansion of less expensive but older sources of energy, thanks to fracking technologies, help states maintain or regain systemic leadership? Our answer is that fracking will be advantageous in the short term but much less so when it comes to longer-term considerations such as global warming and systemic leadership. More likely, this innovation will only protract the transition away from fossil fuels.

Opening the black box: soil microcosm experiments reveal soot-black carbon short-term oxidation and influence on organic carbon mineralisation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Crispo ◽  
Duncan D. Cameron ◽  
Will Meredith ◽  
Aaron Eveleigh ◽  
Nicos Ladommatos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Soil Microcosm ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Carbon Mineralisation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Over Time

<p>Black carbon (BC), the product of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, is ubiquitous in soils globally. Although BC is a major soil carbon pool, its effects on the global carbon cycle have not yet been resolved. It is deemed to represent a large stable pool in soils turning over on geological timescales, but research suggests it can alter soil biogeochemical cycling including that of ecosystem-derived organic carbon. Here, we established two soil microcosm chamber experiments: experiment one added <sup>13</sup>C organic carbon to soil with and without added BC (soot and biochar) to investigate whether it suppressed organic carbon mineralisation; experiment two added <sup>13</sup>C BC (soot) to soil to establish whether it is mineralised in soil over a short timescale. Gases were sampled over six-months and analysed using isotope ratio mass spectrometry. In experiment one we found that the efflux of <sup>13</sup>C organic carbon from the soil decreased over time, but the addition of soot to soil significantly reduced the mineralisation of organic carbon from 32% of the total supplied without soot to 14% of the total supplied with soot. In contrast, there was not a significant difference after the addition of biochar in the flux of δ <sup>13</sup>CO<sub>2 </sub>from the organic carbon added to the soil. In experiment two, we found that the efflux <sup>13</sup>C from soil with added <sup>13</sup>C labelled soot significantly differed from the control, but this efflux declined over time. There was a cumulative loss of 0.17% <sup>13</sup>C from soot over the experiment.These experimental results represent a step-change in understanding the influence of BC continuum on carbon dynamics, which has major consequences for the way we measure, monitor and manage soils for carbon storage and sequestration in the future.</p>

scholarly journals Oil Spill Detection and Mapping: A 50-Year Bibliometric Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3647
Author(s):  
Rodrigo N. Vasconcelos ◽  
André T. Cunha Lima ◽  
Carlos A. D. Lentini ◽  
Garcia V. Miranda ◽  
Luís F. Mendonça ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Technological Evolution ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Oil Spill Detection ◽  
The Past ◽  
Access Information

Oil spill detection and mapping (OSPM) is an extremely relevant issue from a scientific point of view due to the environmental impact on coastal and marine ecosystems. In this study, we present a new approach to assess scientific literature for the past 50 years. In this sense, our study aims to perform a bibliometric and network analysis using a literature review on the application of OSPM to assess researchers and trends in this field of science. In methodological terms we used the Scopus base to search for articles in the literature, then we used bibliometric tools to access information and reveal quantifying patterns in this field of literature. Our results suggest that the detection of oil in the sea has undergone a great evolution in the last decades and there is a strong relationship between the technological evolution aimed at detection with the improvement of remote sensing data acquisition methods. The most relevant contributions in this field of science involved countries such as China, the United States, and Canada. We revealed aspects of great importance and interest in OSPM literature using a bibliometric and network approach to give a clear overview of this field’s research trends.

HISTORY, POLITICS, AND CLAIMS OF MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-271
Author(s):  
John David Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Scientific Support

Claims that a man-made global warming catastrophe is imminent have two major aspects: the scientific support offered for the claims, and the political proposals brought forth in response to the claims. The central questions are whether non-scientists should accept the claims themselves as true, and whether they should support the political proposals attached to them. Predictions of a coming disaster are shown to be a-historical in both the long term and the short term, to involve shifting predictions that are contrary to evidence, and to be opposed by many scientists. The political proposals to alleviate this alleged problem—especially plans by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—are shown to offer no alternative to fossil fuels, and to portend a major economic decline and permanent losses of liberty. The anthropogenic global warming claims are largely motivated not by science, but by a desire for socialist intervention on a national and a global scale. Neither the claims to an impending climate catastrophe nor the political proposals attached to those claims should be accepted.

Greece will rely more on gas as transition fuel

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The United States ◽  
Domestic Demand ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strategic Trade ◽  
Domestic Energy ◽  
The Eu

Significance Over the past few months, the new Greek government under the leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has demonstrated both its commitment to reforming the domestic energy market and its ability to engage regional partners in a dialogue on cooperation in energy policy. Its ambitious plan to transform Greece into a regional natural gas hub got off to a good start in 2020 with the signing of the landmark international Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline agreement on January 3. Impacts If the economy recovers as expected, particularly industry, it should boost domestic demand for gas. In the short term, Greek reliance on Russian gas imports is expected to remain high. Rising volumes of US LNG imports will appease the United States, a strategic trade and military partner of the EU. Greece will strive to position itself as prominent LNG bunkering location in the Eastern Mediterranean.

An Exploratory Study of How Technology Supports Communication in Multilingual Groups

2012 ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
Milam Aiken ◽  
Jianfeng Wang ◽  
Linwu Gu ◽  
Joseph Paolillo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Comprehension Tests ◽  
Reading Comprehension Tests

In this paper, the authors study how new technology can support multilingual groups. Their results show that no significant difference was found between group members’ comprehension of contributed comments and their stated minimum acceptable understanding. However, comprehension of relevant comments was higher than that for off-topic text, indicating that the sharing of important information was achieved. Further, reading comprehension tests of translations from Chinese, German, Hindi, Korean, Malay, and Spanish to English show that, except for Hindi, the automatic translations achieve accuracies that are acceptable for graduate studies at a university in the United States.

Deterrence, Defense, and Disengagement

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn H. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
No Value ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Basic Position

Perhaps the central dilemma in national security policy is how to A reconcile the obvious potency of nuclear weapons for purposes of deterrence with their dubious utility as instruments of defense—i.e., for fighting a war at tolerable cost in case deterrence should fail. In prenuclear days, deterrence was more or less a function of an efficient capacity for defense, but with the new technology deterrence may be accomplished with capabilities and threats that do not correspond to the capabilities and strategies most suitable for rational military action. This dichotomy forms the leading theme of Deterrent or Defense, by Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, one of Britain's leading military analysts. The book is a collection of articles written mostly during the past three or four years, and concerned chiefly with military problems of NATO. As in many books of this sort, the articles overlap to some extent and are not always consistent. Leaving aside the inconsistencies for the moment, Liddell Hart's basic position can be stated briefly. Strategic nuclear airpower is useful for deterring an all-out nuclear attack on the United States or a full-scale conventional assault on Western Europe. But it has no value whatever for purposes of defense, because the inevitable result of the actual use of such weapons is simply “mutual suicide.” Even though it would be “lunacy” for the United States to initiate thermonuclear war in response to a Soviet attack in Europe, the Russians' fear of such a response probably is still strong enough to deter them from all but limited actions. Hence, the major problem facing NATO is to develop an effective non-suicidal defense against limited aggression. The book's greatest merit lies in its contribution to the solution of this problem.

scholarly journals Energy Policy: Past or Prologue?

Daedalus ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Graetz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
Oil Embargo ◽  
Silver Bullet

The United States was remarkably complacent about energy policy until the Arab oil embargo of 1973. Since then, we have relied on unnecessarily costly regulations and poorly designed subsidies to mandate or encourage particular forms of energy production and use. Our presidents have quested after an elusive technological “silver bullet.” Congress has elevated parochial interests and short-term political advantages over national needs. Despite the thousands of pages of energy legislation enacted over the past four decades, Congress has never demanded that Americans pay a price that reflects the full costs of the energy they consume. Given our nation's economic fragility, our difficult fiscal situation, and the daunting challenges of achieving energy security and limiting climate change, we can no longer afford second- and third-best policies. This essay discusses the failures of the past and how we might avoid repeating them.

scholarly journals Decade Long Upsurge In Target Site Pyrethroid Resistance In Bed Bug Populations In The United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cari D. Lewis ◽  
Brenna. A. Levine ◽  
Coby Schal ◽  
Edward L. Vargo ◽  
Warren Booth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pyrethroid Resistance ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Adaptive Traits ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pyrethroid Insecticides ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
The Past

Abstract Over the past three decades, the bed bug Cimex lectularius has resurged as a prominent indoor pest on a global scale. Knockdown-associated insecticide resistance (kdr) involving the voltage-gated sodium channel, targeted by organochlorine and pyrethroid insecticides, was first reported in C. lectularius within a few years of the widespread use of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and has been implicated as a significant factor contributing to the species recent resurgence. Since then, selection with pyrethroid insecticides has intensified, yet little is known regarding its short-term impacts on the frequency of kdr-associated mutations. Here, we report temporal changes in the frequencies of three kdr-associated mutations in C. lectularius populations collected across the United States from two time periods, sampled approximately a decade apart. Results reveal a significant increase in the frequencies of kdr-associated mutations over this period, and absence of the insecticide-susceptible genotype in recent collections. Furthermore, a significant transition towards infestations possessing multiple kdr-associated mutations was observed. These results suggest that the persistent use of pyrethroid insecticides over the past decade continues to impose strong selection pressure on C. lectularius populations, driving the proliferation of kdr-associated mutations. They demonstrate that, if unabated, strong anthropogenic selection can drive the rapid evolution of adaptive traits.

Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith S. Weis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth

What causes global warming or climate change? The burning of fossil fuels emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which results in the greenhouse effect—less heat can be re-radiated away from the earth, thus raising the temperature of the atmosphere and ocean. In the past...

Age-dependent Differences in Short-term Outcome after Surgical or Endovascular Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms in the United States, 1996–2000

Neurosurgery ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred G. Barker ◽  
Sepideh Amin-Hanjani ◽  
William E. Butler ◽  
Brian L. Hoh ◽  
James D. Rabinov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Care ◽  
End Points ◽  
Unruptured Aneurysms ◽  
Discharge Disposition ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract INTRODUCTION Unruptured intracranial aneurysm patients are frequently eligible for both open surgery (“clipping”) and endovascular repair (“coiling”). We compared short-term end points (mortality, discharge disposition, complications, length of stay, and charges) for clipping and coiling in a nationally representative discharge database. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study using Nationwide Inpatient Sample data from 1996 to 2000. Multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, race, payer status, geographic region, presenting signs and symptoms, admission type and source, procedure timing, hospital caseload, and possible clustering of outcomes within hospitals. The results were confirmed by performing propensity score analysis. RESULTS A total of 3498 patients had clipping, and 421 underwent coiling. Clipped patients were slightly younger (P < 0.001). Medical comorbidity was similar between the groups. More clipped patients had urgent or emergency admissions (P = 0.02). More coiling procedures were performed on hospital Day 1 (P = 0.007). When only death and discharge to long-term care were counted as adverse outcomes, there was no significant difference between clipping and coiling. On the basis of a four-level discharge status outcome scale (dead, long-term care, short-term rehabilitation, or discharge to home), coiled patients had a significantly better discharge disposition (odds ratio, 2.1; P < 0.001). With regard to patient age, most of the difference in discharge disposition was in patients older than 65 years of age. The degree of difference between treatments increased from 1996 to 2000. Neurological complications were coded twice as frequently in clipped patients as in coiled patients (P = 0.002). Length of stay was longer (5 d versus 2 d, P < 0.001) and charges were higher ($21,800 versus $13,200, P = 0.007) for clipped patients than for coiled patients. CONCLUSION There was no significant difference in mortality rates or discharge to long-term facilities after clipping or coiling of unruptured aneurysms. When discharge to short-term rehabilitation was counted as an adverse event, coiled patients had significantly better outcomes than clipped patients at the time of hospital discharge, but most of the coiling advantage was concentrated in patients older than 65 years of age. Even in older patients, long-term end points—including long-term functional status in patients discharged to rehabilitation and efficacy in preventing hemorrhage—will be critical in determining the best treatment option for patients with unruptured aneurysms.

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