scholarly journals Living Matter and the Laws of Thermodynamics for the Biosphere

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil H. Swedan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life Changes ◽  
Living Matter ◽  
Maximum Extent ◽  
Mathematical Expressions ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Evolution With Time ◽  
Biosphere Evolution

The laws of thermodynamics have been developed for inert matter, and living matter has not been considered as a variable in these laws. Living matter possesses properties that have had major effects on biosphere evolution with time. The zeroth property is “Living matter is produced from living matter only.” The first property may be summarized as ”Living matter occupies the available spaces to the maximum extent when environmental conditions are favorable and no obstacles are present.” And the second property is “ Living matter mutates, changes, and adapts to maintain the continuity of life and size as large as possible when environmental conditions are unfavorable.” While the zeroth property is objective in nature, the first and second properties are subjective, in that they are driven by internal stimuli characterizing living matter. Their interaction with the laws of thermodynamics may be thought of as “philosophy intertwining with science.” Accordingly, the laws of thermodynamics are revised to factor in life as a variable. Mathematical expressions of the first and second laws are derived and some of their applicability to the biosphere and climate is explained and discussed. The main conclusion is that life changes climates and the fabric of the biosphere.

The Indefinite Containment of Nuclear Fuel Wastes

1995 ◽  
Vol 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Shoesmith ◽  
F. King ◽  
B. M. Ikeda
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Mechanical Behaviour ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Safe Disposal ◽  
Ti Alloys ◽  
Mechanistic Understanding ◽  
Evolution With Time ◽  
Container Material

AbstractThe safe disposal of used fuel or vitrified reprocessed waste could be guaranteed if the containers remained intact indefinitely (> 106 a). Justification of indefinite containment may be possible if two criteria are met; (i) a sound mechanistic understanding of the corrosion and mechanical behaviour of the container material is available, and (ii) the disposal environment and its evolution with time can be confidently predicted. In disposal vaults in which the environmental conditions evolve from a short aggressive period to a long-term benign period, long container lifetimes are achievable. This approach is illustrated by discussing the possibility of indefinite containment of used fuel in a Canadian disposal vault using Ti alloys or Cu.

scholarly journals Camoufl-Ages: Body Assemblages at the Time of the Apocalypse

2013 ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Botta
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
The Self ◽  
Living Matter ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Oryx And Crake

Performance deals with embodiment, presence, agency and event. It is related to representation and consists in the display of an action with the presence of observers (Schechner). In Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009) performance is connected with the protagonists’ struggle for survival, which proves particularly complex because of the complete subversion of the environmental conditions, in a post-apocalyptic future dominated by the harsh consequences of an unscrupulous exploitation of genetic engineering. Scholars have discussed the theme of survival in Atwood’s novels with regard to power politics and victimhood. In my essay through a series of ecocritical studies (Warren, Otto, Castricano, Sehadri), I will explore the distorted relationship between human culture and environment provoked by the excessive manipulation of the living matter, whether human or animal, which alters the perception of the self and of being in general. My focus will be on the notions of mimicry and camouflage.

Vibration Isolator System for Electron Microscope

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-183
Author(s):  
K. Ohi ◽  
M. Mizuno ◽  
T. Kasai ◽  
Y. Ohkura ◽  
K. Mizuno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Vibration Isolator ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Vibration Isolators ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Electron Microscopes

In recent years, with electron microscopes coming into wider use, their installation environments do not necessarily give their performance full play. Their environmental conditions include air-conditioners, magnetic fields, and vibrations. We report a jointly developed entirely new vibration isolator which is effective against the vibrations transmitted from the floor.Conventionally, large-sized vibration isolators which need the digging of a pit have been used. These vibration isolators, however, are large present problems of installation and maintenance because of their large-size.Thus, we intended to make a vibration isolator which1) eliminates the need for changing the installation room2) eliminates the need of maintenance and3) are compact in size and easily installable.

The influence of external conditions on sound pressure in the pistonphone at the infrasound frequency range

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
A. V. Konkov ◽  
D. V. Golovin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Primary Method ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Numerical Estimations

The influence of environmental conditions on a sound pressure reproduced by the primary method in the measuring chambers of the Pistonphone in the frequency range from 1 mHz to 250 Hz is estimated. Numerical estimations of influence of environmental conditions on sound pressure in pistonphone measuring chambers are given and special requirements to system of maintenance of required external conditions are specified.

Disentangling the role of shared ancestry and the environment on leaf stable isotopes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko J. Spasojevic ◽  
Sören Weber1
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Δ13c And Δ15n ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Shared Ancestry

Stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes in plants are important indicators of plant water use efficiency and N acquisition strategies. While often regarded as being under environmental control, there is growing evidence that evolutionary history may also shape variation in stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) among plant species. Here we examined patterns of foliar δ13C and δ15N in alpine tundra for 59 species in 20 plant families. To assess the importance of environmental controls and evolutionary history, we examined if average δ13C and δ15N predictably differed among habitat types, if individual species exhibited intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in δ13C and δ15N, and if there were a significant phylogenetic signal in δ13C and δ15N. We found that variation among habitat types in both δ13C and δ15N mirrored well-known patterns of water and nitrogen limitation. Conversely, we also found that 40% of species exhibited no ITV in δ13C and 35% of species exhibited no ITV in δ15N, suggesting that some species are under stronger evolutionary control. However, we only found a modest signal of phylogenetic conservatism in δ13C and no phylogenetic signal in δ15N suggesting that shared ancestry is a weaker driver of tundra wide variation in stable isotopes. Together, our results suggest that both evolutionary history and local environmental conditions play a role in determining variation in δ13C and δ15N and that considering both factors can help with interpreting isotope patterns in nature and with predicting which species may be able to respond to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

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