scholarly journals Concentrated lunar resources: imminent implications for governance and justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 379 (2188) ◽  
pp. 20190563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Elvis ◽  
Alanna Krolikowski ◽  
Tony Milligan
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
Legal Policy ◽  
Physical Resources ◽  
Special Value ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Small Sites ◽  
Proactive Measures ◽  
Almost All

Numerous missions planned for the next decade are likely to target a handful of small sites of interest on the Moon's surface, creating risks of crowding and interference at these locations. The Moon presents finite and scarce areas with rare topography or concentrations of resources of special value. Locations of interest to science, notably for astronomy, include the Peaks of Eternal Light, the coldest of the cold traps and smooth areas on the far side. Regions richest in physical resources could also be uniquely suited to settlement and commerce. Such sites of interest are both few and small. Typically, there are fewer than ten key sites of each type, each site spanning a few kilometres across. We survey the implications for different kinds of mission and find that the diverse actors pursuing incompatible ends at these sites could soon crowd and interfere with each other, leaving almost all actors worse off. Without proactive measures to prevent these outcomes, lunar actors are likely to experience significant losses of opportunity. We highlight the legal, policy and ethical ramifications. Insights from research on comparable sites on Earth present a path toward managing lunar crowding and interference grounded in ethical and practical near-term considerations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Astronomy from the Moon: the next decades'.

scholarly journals THE SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF SOIL SALINITY AT THE YOUNG SALINE COASTAL PLAIN OF THE CASPIAN REGION

2018 ◽  
pp. 41-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Konyushkova ◽  
S. Alavipanah ◽  
A. Abdollahi ◽  
S. Hamzeh ◽  
A. Heidari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Soil Salinity ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Spatial Differentiation ◽  
Saline Soils ◽  
Caspian Region ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Almost All

The study is focused on the pattern of soil salinity at the young loamy coastal plains of the Caspian Sea in Russia and Iran which were released from water less than 300 years ago. At two key sites of 45×30 m (Russia) and 25×20 m (Iran), the soil sampling with 1 to 5 m grid was performed to the depth of 1 m. The electrical conductivity (1 : 2.5) was measured in soil samples and soil sa-linity maps were compiled. Soils are represented by solonchaks with 2–3% of salts in the top layer or highly saline soils partly leached in the upper 5–10 cm. The ground water table is shallow (2–2.5 m). The studied sites are different in terms of climate, microtopography, and vegetation cover but spatial differentiation of soil salinity is quite similar what is evidenced from the similar distributions (mean values and variance) of electrical conductivity in almost all studied depths. The redistribution of salts is mainly observed in the upper 50 cm with the maximal manifestation in the upper 5 cm.

scholarly journals Human embryonic zeta-globin chains in fetal and newborn blood

Blood ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1409-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
DH Chui ◽  
WC Mentzer ◽  
M Patterson ◽  
TA Iarocci ◽  
SH Embury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cord Blood ◽  
Globin Gene ◽  
Globin Chains ◽  
Specific Radioimmunoassay ◽  
Alpha Globin ◽  
Term Newborns ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Very High ◽  
Diabetic Mothers

Abstract A sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) for human embryonic zeta-globin chains was used to study normal fetal blood and newborn cord blood as well as cord blood from newborns with alpha-thalassemias. From 17 weeks until 37 weeks of gestation, zeta-globin chains were present in almost all fetal and cord blood samples (0.27% +/- 0.15% in samples of weeks 17 through 30; 0.14% +/- 0.11% in samples of weeks 31 through 37). zeta-Globin chains were present in greater than 80% of cord blood hemolysates from normal, full-term newborns (0.15% +/- 0.11%) as well as from 16 near-term newborns of diabetic mothers (0.13% +/- 0.13%). zeta-Globin chains were not detected in normal infants aged 3 months to 2 years. In cord blood hemolysates from alpha-thalassemic newborns, the levels of zeta-globin chain content varied from very high to undetectable levels. Gene mapping of the zeta-alpha-globin gene cluster was performed in 12 newborns in whom cord blood zeta-globin chains had been determined. Newborns who were carriers of alpha- thalassemia-1 due to the (--SEA/) deletion had very high levels of zeta- globin chains (greater than 1.5%).

scholarly journals Towards synthetic biological approaches to resource utilization on space missions

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (102) ◽  
pp. 20140715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amor A. Menezes ◽  
John Cumbers ◽  
John A. Hogan ◽  
Adam P. Arkin
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Methanobacterium Thermoautotrophicum ◽  
Arthrospira Platensis ◽  
The Moon ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Lunar Missions ◽  
Manufacture Plant

This paper demonstrates the significant utility of deploying non-traditional biological techniques to harness available volatiles and waste resources on manned missions to explore the Moon and Mars. Compared with anticipated non-biological approaches, it is determined that for 916 day Martian missions: 205 days of high-quality methane and oxygen Mars bioproduction with Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum can reduce the mass of a Martian fuel-manufacture plant by 56%; 496 days of biomass generation with Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima on Mars can decrease the shipped wet-food mixed-menu mass for a Mars stay and a one-way voyage by 38%; 202 days of Mars polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis with Cupriavidus necator can lower the shipped mass to three-dimensional print a 120 m 3 six-person habitat by 85% and a few days of acetaminophen production with engineered Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 can completely replenish expired or irradiated stocks of the pharmaceutical, thereby providing independence from unmanned resupply spacecraft that take up to 210 days to arrive. Analogous outcomes are included for lunar missions. Because of the benign assumptions involved, the results provide a glimpse of the intriguing potential of ‘space synthetic biology’, and help focus related efforts for immediate, near-term impact.

scholarly journals The "Business-As-Usual" growth of global primary energy use and carbon dioxide emissions – historical trends and near-term forecasts

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1143-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jarvis ◽  
C. N. Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Relative Growth ◽  
Relative Growth Rates ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Business As Usual

Abstract. We analyse the global primary energy use and total CO2 emissions time series since 1850 and show that their relative growth rates appear to exhibit periodicity with a fundamental timescale of ~60 years and with significant harmonic behaviour. Quantifying the inertia inherent in these dynamics allows forecasting of future "business as usual" energy needs and their associated CO2 emissions. Our best estimates for 2020 are 800 EJ yr−1 for global energy use and 14 Gt yr−1 for global CO2 emissions, with both being above almost all other published forecasts. This suggests the energy and total CO2 emissions landscape in 2020 may be significantly more challenging than currently envisaged.

scholarly journals Human embryonic zeta-globin chains in fetal and newborn blood

Blood ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1409-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
DH Chui ◽  
WC Mentzer ◽  
M Patterson ◽  
TA Iarocci ◽  
SH Embury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cord Blood ◽  
Globin Gene ◽  
Globin Chains ◽  
Specific Radioimmunoassay ◽  
Alpha Globin ◽  
Term Newborns ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Very High ◽  
Diabetic Mothers

A sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) for human embryonic zeta-globin chains was used to study normal fetal blood and newborn cord blood as well as cord blood from newborns with alpha-thalassemias. From 17 weeks until 37 weeks of gestation, zeta-globin chains were present in almost all fetal and cord blood samples (0.27% +/- 0.15% in samples of weeks 17 through 30; 0.14% +/- 0.11% in samples of weeks 31 through 37). zeta-Globin chains were present in greater than 80% of cord blood hemolysates from normal, full-term newborns (0.15% +/- 0.11%) as well as from 16 near-term newborns of diabetic mothers (0.13% +/- 0.13%). zeta-Globin chains were not detected in normal infants aged 3 months to 2 years. In cord blood hemolysates from alpha-thalassemic newborns, the levels of zeta-globin chain content varied from very high to undetectable levels. Gene mapping of the zeta-alpha-globin gene cluster was performed in 12 newborns in whom cord blood zeta-globin chains had been determined. Newborns who were carriers of alpha- thalassemia-1 due to the (--SEA/) deletion had very high levels of zeta- globin chains (greater than 1.5%).

scholarly journals LUNAR LASER RANGING TESTS OF THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE WITH THE EARTH AND MOON

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (07) ◽  
pp. 1129-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES G. WILLIAMS ◽  
SLAVA G. TURYSHEV ◽  
DALE H. BOGGS
Keyword(s):  
Equivalence Principle ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Laser Ranging ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lunar Laser Ranging ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Lunar Laser ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Ppn Parameters

A primary objective of the lunar laser ranging (LLR) experiment is to provide precise observations of the lunar orbit that contribute to a wide range of science investigations. In particular, time series of the highly accurate measurements of the distance between the Earth and the Moon provide unique information used to determine whether, in accordance with the equivalence principle (EP), these two celestial bodies are falling toward the Sun at the same rate, despite their different masses, compositions, and gravitational self-energies. Thirty-five years since their initiation, analyses of precision laser ranges to the Moon continue to provide increasingly stringent limits on any violation of the EP. Current LLR solutions give (-1.0 ± 1.4) × 10-13 for any possible inequality in the ratios of the gravitational and inertial masses for the Earth and Moon, Δ(MG/MI). This result, in combination with laboratory experiments on the weak equivalence principle, yields a strong equivalence principle (SEP) test of Δ(MG/MI) SEP = (-2.0 ± 2.0) × 10-13. Such an accurate result allows other tests of gravitational theories. The result of the SEP test translates into a value for the corresponding SEP violation parameter η of (4.4 ± 4.5) × 10-4, where η = 4β - γ - 3 and both γ and β are parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters. Using the recent result for the parameter γ derived from the radiometric tracking data from the Cassini mission, the PPN parameter β (quantifying the nonlinearity of gravitational superposition) is determined to be β - 1 = (1.2 ± 1.1) × 10-4. We also present the history of the LLR effort and describe the technique that is being used. Focusing on the tests of the EP, we discuss the existing data, and characterize the modeling and data analysis techniques. The robustness of the LLR solutions is demonstrated with several different approaches that are presented in the text. We emphasize that near-term improvements in the LLR accuracy will further advance the research on relativistic gravity in the solar system and, most notably, will continue to provide highly accurate tests of the EP.

In the Land of Nagar: a survey around Tell Brak

Iraq ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 51-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Eidem ◽  
D. Warburton
Keyword(s):  
The South ◽  
Present Survey ◽  
The North ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Suitable Generalization ◽  
Small Sites ◽  
Triangular Area ◽  
Southern Fringe ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Geomorphological Features

During the campaign at Tell Brak in the spring of 1988 the present authors conducted a survey of tells in the vicinity of the site. Although comprehensive, the work was primarily intended to supplement the 1978 survey by K. Fielden, who investigated the sites surrounding the main tell at Brak itself and those on the lower Jaghjagh between the junction with the Wadi Radd and the modern town of Hassake, with a particular view to fourth and third millennium settlement (Fielden 1978/9).Within a rectangle of c. 170 km covered by the survey almost all the ancient settlements are found in a roughly triangular area half this size (its base being the lower Jaghjagh/Radd to the south and its apex immediately south of Tell Barri). Identifying this area as the “hinterland” of Brak is merely a locally suitable generalization, as Brak belongs to several systems, one being the macro-system of large urban centres scattered across the Habur Plains and adjacent areas, and another the micro-system of smaller settlements in the immediate vicinity of Brak itself. Brak was an important centre from prehistoric times until the late second millennium B.C., but its role necessarily changed through time, and the concomitant changes in the extent of the area economically and politically dependent upon it remain difficult to recognize. In this sense the area covered by our survey can be seen as partly arbitrary, partly reflecting some real limits. To the south, the French 1: 200,000 maps indicate further small sites on the southern fringe of the area visited, and further west on the lower Jaghjagh, beyond the area investigated by us, are numerous sites clustering along the banks of the wadi and its small affluents, many fairly large and with material of late fourth millennium and third millennium date. This area is relevant when studying the Brak hinterland, but it cannot be evaluated before the publication of the evidence collected by K. Fielden. The area to the north certainly overlaps, at least for certain periods, the hinterland of Tell Barri. Directly west and east of Brak, the cartographic gaps within and beyond the present survey are real or nearly so. To the west/northwest the modern village may obscure evidence, but apart from sites on the first affluent of the lower Jaghjagh there seems to be a fairly wide area here with little ancient occupation. Finally, to the east our area meets that surveyed by Meijer, and his map shows only two additional tells (Meijer 1986, Fig. 1, Nos. 269a and 269b), both Islamic. The two neighbouring sites (our Nos. 33 and 34) appear to be geomorphological features and not tells. The area covered should thus include most of the sites belonging to the micro-system of settlement around Tell Brak.

scholarly journals 19 Treatment of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia – Ontario Cohort 2014-2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. e7-e7
Author(s):  
Saisujani Rasiah ◽  
Thivia Jegathesan ◽  
Douglas Campbell ◽  
Michael Sgro
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Transfusion ◽  
Cochrane Review ◽  
Ivig Therapy ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Significant Rise ◽  
Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Severe Hyperbilirubinemia

Abstract Background Serious complications that could result from severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia include acute and chronic bilirubin encephalopathy. In Ontario, the incidence of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and its associated treatments in term and near-term infants is currently unknown. Although IVIG therapy has been increasingly discussed in the literature, a recent Cochrane review (2018) indicated that there was a lack of evidence for recommending IVIG therapy for routine use. Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the current incidence of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and its treatments (Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, exchange transfusion and phototherapy) most often used in Ontario. Design/Methods A population-based retrospective cohort study of all term and near-term infants (≥ 35 weeks’ gestation) born in Ontario from April 2014 to March 2018 was conducted. National and provincial databases including Better Outcomes Registry Network Ontario (BORN) and Canadian Neonatal Network (CNN) were utilized. Results Data was collected from 533,084 infants born in Ontario over the 4 years. Of the total infants screened, 29,756 (6%) infants were diagnosed with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. In terms of treatments, 24,646 (83%) infants received phototherapy, 54 (0.18%) infants received an exchange transfusion and 458 (1.5%) infants received IVIG therapy. In Ontario, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia had a statistically significant increase from 2014 to 2018 (P<0.0001). Although phototherapy was used on almost all neonates with hyperbilirubinemia (83%) there was a significant decrease from 2014 to 2018 (from 88% to 80%) (P<0.0001). Of the babies with hyperbilirubinemia in 2014, 71 (1.06%) infants received IVIG therapy and 15 (0.22%) infants received exchange transfusion. Within 4 years, IVIG therapy incidence had a significant increase from 71 (1.06%) infants to 156 (2.04%) infants (P<0.0001), while exchange transfusion remained relatively constant (P=.315). Exchange transfusion rates allows for the prediction that the rate of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is stable in Ontario. Conclusion In conclusion, (severe) hyperbilirubinemia still exists amongst neonates in Ontario, despite the advancements in managing hyperbilirubinemia, indicating the need for better treatments and/or monitoring. There was also a significant rise in the use of IVIG despite the continued debate about its utility. Further research should be conducted nationally to determine the incidence of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and to indicate the usage of IVIG therapy.

scholarly journals The peaks of eternal light: A near-term property issue on the moon

Space Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Elvis ◽  
Tony Milligan ◽  
Alanna Krolikowski
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
Near Term

scholarly journals Application of a dynamic model for the coordination of general and private interests of sustainable development at the regional level

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Olga Ivanovna Gorbaneva ◽  
Anton Dmitrievich Murzin ◽  
Tat'yana Yur'evna Anopchenko
Keyword(s):  
Regional Economy ◽  
Federal District ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Production Activity ◽  
Near Term ◽  
One Year ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Term Data

The article presents the results of approbation of the previously presented dynamic socio-ecological-economic model of the synergetic development of individual entities within the South Russian macro-region, which allows to harmonize the general and private interests of each region. The model is investigated on the materials of the Southern Federal District. The identification of the model for the macro-region of the Southern Federal District was carried out on the basis of the data of the website of the State Statistics Committee, which are in the public domain. For identification, the time series of 2005, 2010, 2015-2017 were taken. This choice is explained by both theoretical reasons (a step of five years was chosen for the long-term data and one year for the near-term data), and empirical (the data of the crisis periods of 2008 and 2012, as well as the years nearest to them, were not taken). As a result of the study, several controversial conclusions were drawn regarding the strategies of the subjects' behavior. Calculations show, in particular, that in the current conditions it is not profitable for any of the regions to develop its own production sphere; the optimal strategy for each of them is only to increase consumption in the hope of the production activity of neighboring regions. In view of the choice of this rational strategy by all regions at the same time, a general degradation of the production sphere and stagnation of the regional economy are predicted. At the same time, it was revealed that a further reduction in production becomes unprofitable for almost all lagging regions (the republics of the Southern Federal District), while the leading regions (the regions of the Southern Federal District) remain profitable for production inaction.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document