Advances in Selective Flotation and Leaching Process in Metallurgy

Metals are a finite resource that are necessary to maintain living standards in modern society, due to their countless applications, such as transportation vehicles, building and construction, household appliances, electronic devices, etc. [...]

Experience of Time and Subjective Age When Facing a Limited Lifetime: The Case of Older Adults with Advanced Cancer

Objectives We addressed two questions: (1) Does advanced cancer in later life affect a person’s awareness of time and their subjective age? (2) Are awareness of time and subjective age associated with distress, perceived quality of life, and depression? Methods We assessed patients suffering terminal cancer (OAC, n = 91) and older adults free of any life-threatening disease (OA, n = 89), all subjects being aged 50 years or older. Results Older adults with advanced cancer perceived time more strongly as being a finite resource and felt significantly older than OA controls. Feeling younger was meaningfully related with better quality of life and less distress. In the OA group, feeling younger was also associated to reduced depression. Perceiving time as a finite resource was related to higher quality of life in the OA group. Discussion Major indicators of an older person’s awareness of time and subjective aging differ between those being confronted with advanced cancer versus controls.

Inheritances, social classes, and wealth distribution

We consider a simple theoretical model to investigate the impact of inheritances on the wealth distribution. Wealth is described as a finite resource, which remains constant over different generations and is divided equally among offspring. All other sources of wealth are neglected. We consider different societies characterized by a different offspring probability distribution. We find that, if the population remains constant, the society reaches a stationary wealth distribution. We show that inequality emerges every time the number of children per family is not always the same. For realistic offspring distributions from developed countries, the model predicts a Gini coefficient of G ≈ 0.3. If we divide the society into wealth classes and set the probability of getting married to depend on the distance between classes, the stationary wealth distribution crosses over from an exponential to a power-law regime as the number of wealth classes and the level of class distinction increase.

Groundwater Quality and Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment

Groundwater is a valuable and finite resource covering only 30% of the freshwater (3% of the total volume of water) on Earth [...]

Lossy codecs for digital image signatures

Most applications in recent times make use of images one way or the other. As physical devices for capturing images improve, the quality and sizes of images also increase. This causes a significant footprint of images on storage devices. There is ongoing research to reduce the footprint of images on storage. Since storage is a finite resource, the goal is to reduce the sizes of images while maintaining enough quality pleasant to the human eye. In this paper, the design of two lossy codecs for compressing grayscale digital signature images has been presented. The algorithms used either simple thresholding or transform coding to introduce controlled losses into the image coding chain. This was to reduce, to a great extent, the average number of bits per pixel required to represent the images. The codecs were implemented in MATLAB and experiments were conducted with test images to study the performances of the algorithms.

10. International Watercourses: Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use

This chapter turns to issues related to fresh water. Fresh water is a finite resource and the more we pollute it, the more issues we have with its use. A sustainable supply of fresh water is vital to life. Historically, international water law was not particularly concerned with environmental problems. This chapter talks of ‘international watercourse’ which is a convenient designation for rivers, lakes, or groundwater sources shared by two mor more states. The law of international watercourses has for most of its history been concerned with the allocation and use of a natural resource of international significance, not with its conservation or environmental protection. While it can be asserted with some confidence that states are no longer free to pollute or otherwise destroy the ecology of a shared watercourse to the detriment of their neighbours or of the marine environment, definitive conclusions concerning the law in this area are more difficult to draw.

Suburban / urban grafting: towards an architectural and urban hybrid

Land is a finite resource which does not support the low density suburban model on a large scale. The alternative, the urban condition, does not satisfy the needs of families. The goal is to define a middle ground, to create a hybrid, by taking the best qualities of the suburbs and urb to develop a new vision for the city. Is it possible to combine the typological characteristics and spatial qualities of the suburbs in an urban format where the disadvantages of the suburbs are mitigated by the multiplicity of urbanity? For the purpose of this thesis the design proposal is tested on Ijburg, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The resultant hybrid is manifested through the mixing of different housing typologies both suburban and urban in conjunction with and elevated street which provides private access to individual units and public access to recreational and leisure facilities.

Suburban / urban grafting: towards an architectural and urban hybrid

Land is a finite resource which does not support the low density suburban model on a large scale. The alternative, the urban condition, does not satisfy the needs of families. The goal is to define a middle ground, to create a hybrid, by taking the best qualities of the suburbs and urb to develop a new vision for the city. Is it possible to combine the typological characteristics and spatial qualities of the suburbs in an urban format where the disadvantages of the suburbs are mitigated by the multiplicity of urbanity? For the purpose of this thesis the design proposal is tested on Ijburg, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The resultant hybrid is manifested through the mixing of different housing typologies both suburban and urban in conjunction with and elevated street which provides private access to individual units and public access to recreational and leisure facilities.

Towards circular phosphorus: The need of inter- and transdisciplinary research to close the broken cycle

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element to all living beings but also a finite resource. P-related problems center around broken P cycles from local to global scales. This paper presents outcomes from the 9th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW9) held 2019 on how to move towards a sustainable P management. It is based on two sequential discussion rounds with all participants. Important progress was reported regarding the awareness of P as finite mineable resource, technologies to recycle P, and legislation towards a circular P economy. Yet, critical deficits were identified such as how to handle legacy P, how climate change may affect ecosystem P cycling, or working business models to up-scale existing recycling models. Workshop participants argued for more transdisciplinary networks to narrow a perceived science-practice/policy gap. While this gap may be smaller in reality as illustrated with a Swiss example, we formulate recommendations how to bridge this gap more effectively.

Introduction: Fresh Water and Its Features

This introductory chapter offers a preview of the challenges and opportunities attached to water. It presents the features of water as a finite resource and the challenges that accompany its management and protection. The tensions that pertain to and opportunities associated with the different uses of water are highlighted. Moreover, the relevance of a disciplinary inquiry when examining water issues is explained. The chapter also gives an overview of the key developments since the first edition of this book was published. Overall, the chapter introduces the various themes in the book and frames the issues at the heart of this study.