Parameterizing the vertical downward dispersion of ship exhaust gas in the near field

Estimating the impact of ship emissions on local air quality is a topic of high relevance, especially in large harbor cities. For chemistry-transport modeling studies, the initial plume rise and dispersion play a crucial role for the distribution of pollutants into vertical model layers. This study aims at parameterizing the vertical downward dispersion in the near field of a prototype cruise ship, depending on several meteorological and technical input parameters. By using the microscale chemistry, transport and stream model (MITRAS), a parameterization scheme was developed to calculate the downward dispersion, i.e., the fraction of emissions, which will be dispersed below stack height. This represents the local concentration in the vicinity of the ship. Cases with and without considering the obstacle effect of the ship have been compared. Wind speed and ship size were found to be the strongest factors influencing the downward dispersion, which can reach values up to 55 % at high wind speed and lateral wind. This compares to 31 % in the case where the obstacle effect was not considered and shows the importance of obstacle effects when assessing the ground-level pollution situation in ports.

UNWTO Inclusive Recovery Guide – Sociocultural Impacts of Covid-19, Issue 3: Women in tourism

This set of guidelines has been developed by the UNWTO Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility Department, in collaboration with UN Women. It is a response to the continuing crisis caused by COVID-19 and an update on the initial recommendations issued by UNWTO in May 2020. UNWTO extends special thanks to UN Women for contributing with their valuable technical input and expertise. The UNWTO Inclusive Recovery Guides on the sociocultural impacts of COVID-19 are living guidelines, subject to revision as the health situation evolves and more information becomes available on the most effective ways to make tourism inclusive and accessible for all. This Guide is accessible (WC.AG.2.0) and will be periodically revised.

The financing strategy of agricultural supply chain based on cost sharing and buyer guarantee is considered in smart agriculture

Supported by the agricultural technology, the intelligent agricultural development is flourishing. However, due to the high technology cost and investment risk, intelligent agriculture in China is still in the exploration stage. This article designs the appropriate cost sharing mechanism under the two-stage supply chain system, which composes of a farmer, a core enterprise and a commercial bank. With the comparison between commercial bank financing model and the buyer guarantees financing model, this paper researches the optimal decisions of supply chain members and the influence of the cost-sharing ratio, technical input gain effect and the buyer guarantees ratio. The results show that the profit will increase with the add of technical input gain effect. Besides, only under certain conditions, cost sharing is valuable to each member. Finally, numerical examples show existing an optimal interest rate spread area that all members would benefit from the buyer guarantee financing model.

Differentiability of Relative Volumes Over an Arbitrary Non-Archimedean Field

Given an ample line bundle $L$ on a geometrically reduced projective scheme defined over an arbitrary non-Archimedean field, we establish a differentiability property for the relative volume of two continuous metrics on the Berkovich analytification of $L$, extending previously known results in the discretely valued case. As applications, we provide fundamental solutions to certain non-Archimedean Monge–Ampère equations and generalize an equidistribution result for Fekete points. Our main technical input comes from determinant of cohomology and Deligne pairings.

Parameterizing the vertical downward dispersion of ship exhaust gas in the near-field

Estimating the impact of ship emissions on local air quality is a topic of high relevance, especially in large harbour cities. For chemistry transport modeling studies, the initial plume rise and dispersion play a crucial role for the distribution of pollutants into vertical model layers. This study aims at parameterizing the vertical downward dispersion in the near-field of a prototype cruise ship, depending on several meteorological and technical input parameters. By using the micro-scale transport and stream model MITRAS, a parameterization scheme was developed to calculate the downward dispersion, i.e. the fraction of emissions, which will be dispersed below stack height. This represents the local concentration in the vicinity of the ship. Cases with and without considering the obstacle effect of the ship have been compared. Wind speed and ship size were found to be the strongest factors influencing the downward dispersion, which can reach values up to 55 % at high wind speed and lateral wind. This compares to 31 % in the case where the obstacle effect was not considered and shows the importance of obstacle effects when assessing the ground-level pollution situation in ports.

Strengthening the integration of eye care into the health system: methodology for the development of the WHO package of eye care interventions

ObjectiveTo describe the rational for, and the methods that will be employed to develop, the WHO package of eye care interventions (PECI).Methods and analysisThe development of the package will be conducted in four steps: (1) selection of eye conditions (for which interventions will be included in the package) based on epidemiological data on the causes of vision impairment and blindness, prevalence estimates of eye conditions and health facility data; (2) identification of interventions and related evidence for the selected eye conditions from clinical practice guidelines and high-quality systematic reviews by a technical working group; (3) expert agreement on the inclusion of eye care interventions in the package and the description of resources required for the provision of the selected interventions; and (4) peer review. The project will be led by the WHO Vision Programme in collaboration with Cochrane Eyes and Vision. A Technical Advisory Group, comprised of public health and clinical experts in the field, will provide technical input throughout all stages of development.ResultsAfter considering the feedback of Technical Advisory Group members and reviewing-related evidence, a final list of eye conditions for which interventions will be included in the package has been collated.ConclusionThe PECI will support Ministries of Health in prioritising, planning, budgeting and integrating eye care interventions into health systems. It is anticipated that the PECI will be available for use in 2021.