The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate.
MULTIFILE
Rationale: Diagnosis of sarcopenia in older adults is essential for early treatment in clinical practice. Bio-electrical impedanceanalysis (BIA) may be a valid means to assess appendicular lean mass (ALM) in older adults, but limited evidence is available.Therefore, we aim to evaluate the validity of BIA to assess ALM in older adults.Methods: In 215 community dwelling older adults (age ≥ 55 years), ALM was measured by BIA (Tanita MC-780; 8-points) andcompared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, Hologic Discovery A) as reference. Validity for assessing absolute values ofALM was evaluated by: 1) bias (mean difference), 2) percentage of accurate predictions (within 5% of DXA values), 3) individualerror (root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute deviation), 4) limits of agreement (Bland-Altman analysis). For diagnosis oflow ALM, the lowest quintile of ALM by DXA was used (below 21.4 kg for males and 15.4 for females). Sensitivity and specificityof detecting low ALM by BIA were assessed.Results: Mean age of the subjects was 71.9 ± 6.4, with a BMI of 25.8 ± 4.2 kg/m2, and 70% were females. BIA slightlyunderestimated ALM compared to DXA with a mean bias of -0.6 ± 0.2 kg. The percentage accurate predictions was 54% withRMSE 1.6 kg and limits of agreements -3.0 – +1.8 kg. Sensitivity was 79%, indicating that 79% of subjects with low ALMaccording to DXA also had low ALM with the BIA. Specificity was 90%, indicating that 90% of subjects with ‘no low’ ALMaccording to DXA also had ‘no low’ ALM with the BIA.Conclusions: This comparison showed a poor validity of BIA to assess absolute values of ALM, but a reasonable sensitivity andspecificity to diagnose a low level of ALM in community-dwelling older adults in clinical practice.
Local governments in Western Europe increasingly use city time-access regulations to improve social sustainability. These regulations significantly influence the distribution process of retail chain organizations. This paper studies the impact of governmental time-window pressure on retailers' logistical concepts and the consequential financial and environmental distribution performance. We determine which dimensions in the retailer's logistical concept determine its cost and emission sensitivity to increasing time-window pressure. Our research is based on a multiple case study of fourteen Dutch retail cases in different sectors and with different store formulas. The retailers provided all organizational, flow and cost data of their secondary distribution (between distribution center and stores). We use these data to calculate the impacts of different time-window pressure scenarios, including the current situation, using vehicle routing software. It appears that cost and emissions increases are moderate, when few cities are affected. However, as more cities are affected, costs and emissions increase considerably, particularly if time-window lengths become shorter. Time-windows harmonized between cities lead to fewer negative effects. We find various dimensions that contribute to reducing a retailer's sensitivity to time-window pressure. We formulate conclusions hypothesizing the links between time-window pressure, its effects, and the dimensions that determine these effects. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Environmental nano- and micro-plastics (NMPs) are highly diverse [2]. Accounting for this diversity is one of the main challenges to develop a comprehensive understanding of NMPs detection, quantification, fate, and risks [3]. Two major issues currently limit progresses within this field: (a) validation and broadening the current analytical tools (b) uncertainty with respect to NMPs occurrence and behaviour at small scales (< 20 micron). Tracking NMPs in environmental systems is currently limited to micron size plastics due to the size detection limit of the available analytical techniques. There are currently many uncertainties regarding detecting nanoplastics in real environmental systems, e.g. the inexistence of commercially available NMPs and incompatibility between them and those generated from plastic fragments degradation in the environment. Trying to tackle these problems some research groups synthesized NMPs dopped with metals inside [16]. However, even though elemental analysis techniques (ICP-MS) are rather sensitive, the low volume of these metals encapsulated in the nanoparticles make their detection rather challenging. At the same time, due to Sars-Cov-19 pandemic, nucleic acid identification technologies (LAMP, PCR) experienced a fast evolution and are able to provide detection at very low levels with very compact and reliable equipment. Nuclepar proposes the use of Electrohydrodynamic Atomization (EHDA) to generate NMPs coated with nucleic acids of different polymer types, sizes, and shapes, which can be used as support for detection of such particles using PCR-LAMP technology. If proven possible, Nuclepar might become a first step towards an easy NMPs detection tool. This knowledge will certainly impact current risk assessment tools, efficient interventions to limit emissions and adequate regulations related to NMPs.
