Transitioning away from our current global energy system is of paramount importance. The speed at which a transition can take place—its timing, or temporal dynamics—is a critical element of consideration. This study therefore investigates the issue of time in global and national energy transitions by asking: What does the mainstream academic literature suggest about the time scale of energy transitions? Additionally, what does some of the more recent empirical data related to transitions say, or challenge, about conventional views?

Participants of Hispanic/Latino origin across the United States aged 45 to 74 years were enrolled into the Echocardiographic Study of Latinos (ECHO-SOL) and underwent a comprehensive echocardiography examination to define left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). Clinical HF was defined according to self-report, and those with cardiac dysfunction but without clinical HF were characterized as having subclinical or unrecognized cardiac dysfunction.

The aim of the present study is to investigate LC50 values in three seasons of TBTO on L. marginalis. The active substance TBT is highly toxic damaging to non target species. The bivalves have been bioindicators to determine aquatic pollution status. The adverse effect of Tributyltin oxide has been studied on freshwater bivalve mollusk Lamellidens marginalis in summer, monsoon and winter season during June 2014–may 2015. To evaluate the median lethal concentration of TBTO, bioassay was performed in all seasons on fresh water bivalve for 24hr, 48hr, 72hr and 96 hrs.

Dumpsites exist throughout the developing countries present a threat to human health for the next several years; this is because most of these countries follow the practice of open dumping of solid wastes. Most of these dumping sites are uncontrolled and years old, having grown over time from small dumps to large, unmanaged waste sites. Municipal waste, which is the most common source of the waste which ends up at the dumpsites, has been shown to contain heavy metals which are leached out from the sites into the soil and water.

Humanity now faces a dangerous dilemma: on one hand leading scientists predict that if we continue to burn coal, gas and oil the environmental consequences are likely to be catastrophic (e.g. Hansen et al., 2013); on the other hand many economists argue that if we stop using fossil fuels our industrial civilization will run out of energy and collapse (e.g. Canes, 2015). Although renewable technologies are beginning to compete with fossil fuels in the production of electricity, electricity is only 20% of energy use (IEA, 2014). In other areas—e.g.

The amount of electricity generated by Photovoltaic (PV) systems is affected by factors such as shading, building orientation and roof slope. To increase electricity generation and reduce volatility in generation of PV systems, a portfolio of PV systems can be made which takes advantages of the potential synergy among neighboring buildings. This paper contains data supporting the research article entitled: PACPIM: new decision-support model of optimized portfolio analysis for community-based photovoltaic investment.

To meet rising demand for rice, it is estimated that the global rice production needs to increase by 116 million tons by 2035. Much of the increase has to come from smallholder rice farmers in developing countries. In this article, we review 25 evaluation studies on new rice technologies and practices that have been tried and used by smallholder rice farmers in developing countries. Stress-tolerant rice varieties are found among promising new rice varieties. African farmers benefit from New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties.

Reducing food wastage is one of the key strategies to combat hunger and sustainably feed the world. We present a comprehensive analysis of available data, despite uncertainties due to data limitation, indicating that the U.S. loses at least 150 million metric tonnes (MMT) of food between farm and fork annually, of which about 70 MMT is edible food loss. Currently, <2% of the edible food loss is recovered for human consumption.

Wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum provide over half of the world's food calories. To maintain global food security, with the added challenge of climate change, there is an increasing need to exploit existing genetic variability and develop cultivars with superior genetic yield potential and stress adaptation. The opportunity to share knowledge between crops and identify priority traits for future research can be exploited to increase breeding impacts and assist in identifying the genetic loci that control adaptation.

Traffic noise has been associated with cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Potential modes of action are through stress and sleep disturbance, which may lead to endocrine dysregulation and overweight. The researchers aimed to investigate the relationship between residential traffic and railway noise and adiposity.

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