Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Station Metadata In Alaska Based On Analysis Of Love Waves From The 2012-04-11 Mw 8.6 Offshore Sumatra Earthquake, Carl Tape

Faculty

This report is part of a detailed investigation of a Mw 3.9 earthquake near Nenana, Alaska, that was triggered by Love waves from a Mw 8.6 offshore Sumatra earthquake. Results from that study appeared in Tape et al. (2013). We analyze all BH and HH channel waveforms that are available at the Alaska Earthquake Center. This report has three objectives: (1) to provide information that may help improve station metadata at Alaska stations; (2) to provide a snapshot of station performance in Alaska at one particular time (11-April-2012); (3) to provide details and figures on part of the waveform processing …

Investigation Of Internal Wave Spectra Due To Observed Interactions, Benjamin Lee Hillyard

Theses and Dissertations

Observational data are analyzed and decomposed to reveal internal ocean waves and their interactions with one another. Particularly, the interaction of small-scale internal waves with a large inertia wave packet is examined. Using the governing internal wave equations, an analysis is made of the energy propagation of a small scale internal wave with a large-scale inertia wave. With that, an assessment is made of the frequency of occurrence of various encounter types. Next, the possibility of energy transfer during an interaction is explored. The relative energy of the small wave before interacting with the large-scale inertia wave is calculated and …

Discrete-Time Implementation, Antenna Design, And Mimo For Near-Field Magnetic Induction Communications, Ronald Brett Gottula

Theses and Dissertations

Near-field magnetic induction (NFMI) is a short range wireless technology that uses loop antennas coupled by a magnetic field. NFMI antennas are electrically small and thus extremely inefficient and narrow band, making system design for multi-user and high-bitrate applications challenging. The goals of this thesis are to develop a test platform suitable for NFMI antenna testing, to model, design and test NFMI antennas that have high bandwidth-efficiency, and to explore the possibility of using MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) to increase the capacity of the NFMI channel. This thesis provides system implementations, test results, and channel modeling to aid in the design …

Dynamically Reconfigurable Management Of Energy, Performance, And Accuracy Applied To Digital Signal, Image, And Video Processing Applications, Daniel Rolando Llamocca Obregon

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

There is strong interest in the development of dynamically reconfigurable systems that can meet real-time constraints in energy/power-performance-accuracy (EPA/PPA). In this dissertation, I introduce a framework for implementing dynamically reconfigurable digital signal, image, and video processing systems. The basic idea is to first generate a collection of Pareto-optimal realizations in the EPA/PPA space. Dynamic EPA/PPA management is then achieved by selecting the Pareto-optimal implementations that can meet the real-time constraints. The systems are then demonstrated using Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) and dynamic frequency control on FPGAs. The framework is demonstrated on: i) a dynamic pixel processor, ii) a dynamically reconfigurable …

Nucleon Scalar Matrix Elements With N_F=2+1+1 Twisted Mass Fermions, V Drach, K Jansen, S Dinter

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Topological Susceptibility And Chiral Condensate With $N_F=2+1+1$ Dynamical Flavors Of Maximally Twisted Mass Fermions., E Garcia-Ramos, K Cichy, V Drach, K Jansen

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Excited State Effects In Nucleon Matrix Element Calculations, S Dinter, C Alexandrou, M Constantinou, V Drach, K Jansen, T Leontiou, Db Renner

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

July 5, 2012, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Regional Legal Experiences In Biotechnology In The European Union, Claudia Colmenarez Ortiz

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Genetic modification in plant cells in the early 80´s allowed Biotechnology to introduce characteristics in plants creating stronger crops (compared to the ones created by conventional breeding) to be used in different sectors: Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Production and Industry. A new technology was developed to face the upcoming global challenges: climate change, overpopulation, erosion, and a new socio-economic environment.

This new technology is subject to international regulations to ensure environmental sustainability of crop production on the basis of which genetically modified organisms have to be assessed for safety before being released in to the environment or on the market. Although …

Risk Governance Of Genetically Modified Organisms In Europe And China, Wen Xiang

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Biotechnology may provide a variety of societal benefits but may also threaten established interests and values, and human and environmental well-being. The safety of GM crops and foods is an issue that causes great public concern and stringent regulation in European countries and several developing countries. Risk governance of GMOs is required to facilitate the commercialization of the biotechnology and also to act as a mechanism of controlling potential risk.

It is generally recognized that the governance shall be done on the basis of a risk analysis framework. Risk analysis can be broadly defined as an integrated process consisting of …

The Use Of Delphi For The Listing Of Species And Ecological Communities, Angela Dwyer

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

This paper considers the limitations of the current methodologies and the potential for the use of the Delphi method as part of the regulatory response to biodiversity loss through the listing of species and ecological communities.

Decision-making in relation to threatened species and ecological communities, especially when the ubiquitous ‘listing’ may be the required outcome to attract a conservation response, is particularly susceptible to challenges over methodology.

Many decisions are made under circumstances where the available scientific evidence is uncertain, inadequate, or inexact; the decisions are generally science-based and the link between science and policy is clouded; and there is …

Counting Nature And The Nature Of Counting, Natasha Affolder

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Biodiversity protection is becoming increasingly reliant on metrics, lists, and indicators. Check the box approaches to taking biodiversity into account attempt to reduce complex concepts, and contested science, into simple standards, often translated into numerical representation. The acronyms alone associated with such attempts to numerically account for and prioritize nature are mind boggling even for the initiated: are habitats IBAs (Important Bird Areas), IPAs (Indigenous Protected Areas), AZE (Alliance for Zero Extinction) sites, KBAs (Key Biodiversity Areas)? List-based approaches dominate both international treaties (the World Heritage Convention, the Ramsar Convention, CITES) and leading international instruments such as the IUCN Red …

Is The Time Ripe For Binding Norms For Corporate Accountability?, Stephen Stec, Alexios Antypas, Magdalena Pakiewicz

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

International voluntary corporate social responsibility initiatives such as international codes of conduct, non-financial reporting standards and governance principles have displayed an exponential growth trend in recent decades, in response to growing recognition of the need for a policy response to the harmful social and environmental effects of globalization. Corporate accountability was a major topic in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, resulting in the strengthening of voluntary frameworks and the launching of several new voluntary initiatives. The expansion of the realm of corporate social responsibility, sustainability reporting and accountability through voluntary means has not, however, blunted …

Building Bridges Across Jurisdictional And Disciplinary Boundries: The Need For New Environmental Law Research Methods, Michelle Lim

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

In the past forty years the global population has doubled and global CO2 emissions have increased by 70%. Human induced change to ecosystems is more rapid and extensive than any comparable period in history. Current biodiversity loss exceeds that of the historical past by several orders of magnitude and shows no indication of slowing. Anthropogenic changes to ecosystems have contributed to improvements to human well-being and economic development. This has been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services. Population growth and economic development have intensified competition over natural resources worldwide.

Rapid increases in …

An Appraisal Of The International Governance Of Transboundary Movements Of Gmo's Twenty Years After Rio, Odile Lim Tung

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Biotechnology or the engineering of the genetic material of species can give way to avenues of possibilities for the benefit of people, fauna and flora but also has the potential of untold and undiscovered threats to humanity and living organisms. One of the first attempts to legislate on international rules on biotechnology can be traced back to Article 19 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992. The CBD is indeed the first international legal instrument apart from the then European Community’s relevant directives to suggest that biotechnology is a matter of concern for the international community while providing …

Teaching Comparative Environmental Law From A Global Resources Perspective: Are National Environmental Laws Doing Their Job?, Lin Harmon

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Many environmental law courses provide instruction in national environmental laws and their application. Some environmental law courses compare one system of environmental law with another system to see what each system can learn from the other. Most recently, there has been a move towards a more global approach to comparative environmental law, looking at the global development of legal institutions and procedures in the enforcement of environmental statutes and regulations.

As the world faces increasingly difficult conditions with advancing climate change and ocean acidification, continuing loss of biological diversity, the growth of megacities, massive public health problems from pollution, and …

Critical Analysis Of The Contractual Commitment To Serve The Protection Of Ecological Services: Payments For Environmental Services, Alexandra Langlais

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The contractual commitment is a tool now widely used in the environmental field. As part of payments for environmental services, this contractual obligation, however, raises many questions. These cover not only the legitimacy but also contractors and so intimately linked to the object of the contract, environmental services. Indeed, the provision of environmental services justifies financial rewards in return. Insofar as this concept of environmental services is uncertain because of a missing definition, it coexists with that of ecosystem services, environmental public goods, the subject of the contract and therefore its payment may appear questionable. Including the assumption that this …

Transnational Voluntary Climate Change Initiatives For Local Governments: Key Variables, Drivers, And Likely Effects, Stepan Wood, Kevin Thompson

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Local governments were among the first levels of government to develop and implement policies and measures to combat climate change. They remain in many respects at the forefront of climate policy. Since the early 1990s they have acted collectively to create transnational voluntary climate change initiatives, from the Europe-based Climate Alliance and EU Mayors’ Covenant to the global Cities for Climate Protection campaign and carbonn Cities Climate Registry. After more than two decades of experience with the oldest of these initiatives, it is somewhat surprising that these transnational local government climate initiatives have not received more attention in the scholarly …

Payment For Ecosystem Services In Brazil: Between Efficiency And Equity, Ana Maria Nusdeo, Ana Luiza Campos

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Brazil is characterized by a great richness of its biodiversity, the extension of its continental lands, a variety of economic and cultural condition on its different regions and a sociocultural diversity. All aspects contribute to the complexity of the environmental issue. Although such complexity deserves a special attention, the history of socio-environmental and economic public policies prove that such policies have not always accomplished good results, be it either because models of intense exploitation of natural resources have been adopted, disregarding biodiversity; or due to a poor view of regions as areas either to be occupied or preserved, disregarding its …

Incorporating Values Within Environmental Risk Assessment, Ceri Warnock

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Public participation in environmental decision making can be seen as constituting a spectrum: from the right to be informed, to the right to make submissions and / or be consulted, to the right to play an active role in the decision–making process. In the context of environmental risk assessment, many theorists argue that a significant and meaningful role should be given to the public in the decision-making process. There are two primary reasons for this: the first is to ensure the legitimacy of the decision and the second is because of the importance of ascertaining values in risk assessment. This …

A Radical Shift For The Future Of Environmental Law: The Potential And Risks Of The Use Of Technology For The Benefit Of The Environment, Floor M. Fleurke, Jonathan Verschuuren

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The rate of environmental decline over the past few decades has been alarming, reflecting the relative ineffectiveness of the expanding body of environmental law that has been enacted since the early 1970s. Scholars have analysed the causes for the sub-optimal performance of environmental regulation, and put forward a plethora of explanations. Our scientific understanding of how ecologies interrelate and what critical thresholds exist remains sketchy at best, which hinders the articulation of appropriate regulatory goals. It is also hard to channel the behaviour of citizens for as long as the costs of environmental harm are borne by future generations that …

The Climate Change Cop 17 Debacle: Is This The Beginning Of The Failure Of International Environmental Diplomacy?, Tumai Murombo

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Increasingly it is becoming apparent that addressing global environmental problems through international diplomacy is not working optimally. Through the lenses of the recent Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COPs 15-17) this paper will analyse international environmental diplomacy and assess the extent to which it has been useful in promoting the objectives of sustainable development. In particular it appears that progressively geopolitics is supplanting the underlying aim of international environmental law i.e. to deal with global environmental challenges. I conclude that there is a need for a rethink of how do we address global …

Australia's Brand New Clean Energy Legislation Package - How Can It Reduce Emissions?, Karen Bubna-Litic

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

How does one effectively reduce greenhouse gases? Two ways of doing this is through either lowering the production of ghg’s through less activity, eg energy efficiency, or through the availability of substitutes that produce less ghg’s.

Currently we have a high demand for greenhouse gas producing activities. In simple terms increasing the price, say, of carbon through either a tax or cap and trade scheme can decrease demand. However, lessening demand is a complex proposition, depending on the elasticity of the product, the purchasing power of the consumer and the availability of substitutes. Energy efficiency and technical innovation are two …

Teaching The Art Of Environmental Diplomacy, Ann Powers

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

International Environmental Law is a framework of obligations, measurable norms, and consultative procedures associated with elaborating these norms and facilitating their implementation. It is through the practice of multilateral environmental diplomacy that Nations primarily establish international environmental law. These multilateral negotiations take place in the General Assembly or the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations or in other treaty organizations, such as the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity or the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Such environmental diplomatic negotiations are on-going and …

International Environmental Law And Migration, Nicole De Moor

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The international community has long recognized that worldwide environmental changes affect national and international migration patterns. However, in 1992, the issue of environment-induced migration and displacement was not addressed as a major concern at the Rio Earth Summit. From the three new forums addressing environmental and development concerns, initiated in Rio, only the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) paid modest attention to environmental migration. Neither the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), nor the Biodiversity Convention (CBD), explicitly referred to the phenomenon of environment-induced human mobility.

However, since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted migration and displacement as …

Co2 Emissions Trading And Emission Limit Values: Is Eu Environmental Law Restricting Member States To Act Against Climate Change?, Kars J. De Graaf

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The competence to protect the environment in Europe could be described as a ‘shared’ competence. While the EU may adopt environmental directives on the basis of Article 192 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) that obligate Member States to implement them in their national legal order, Article 193 TFEU makes clear that the protective measures adopted pursuant to Article 192 TFEU shall not prevent any Member State from maintaining or introducing more stringent protective measures.

A cornerstone of the EU’s policy to combat climate change is the 2005 Emission Trading System Directive (ETS Directive). This system is an …

Eu Climate Law & Practice At The End Of The Kyoto Era: Unilateralism, Extraterritoriality And The Future Of Global Climate Change Governance, Lorenzo Schiano Di Pepe

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The European Union (EU) and its legal system have traditionally been at the forefront of the fight against anthropogenic climate change at the global level. This is particularly true today, when the international community is facing one of the most difficult passages of all times in this respect, due to the well-known difficulty in agreeing on a binding legal text to be applied once the first reference period established by the Kyoto Protocol will expire at the end of this year.

The above stalemate has caused individual States to resort to unilateralism, a move that in itself represents a regression …

Emerging Legal And Policy Strategies For Climate Change Adaptation: Opportunities And Constraints For Action In Africa, Emmanuel Kasimbazi

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

The climate of the Africa is changing. When the climate started changing and when it will end is subject to endless debate. Climate is important for development in Africa but natural climate fluctuations from autonomous climate cycles (such as those linked to the El Nino phenomenon) disrupt ecological, economic and social systems. The causes of climate of change include: continued rates of high population growth, increasing reliance on fossil fuel-driven growth technologies, land use effects, (particularly urbanization, agriculture and deforestation) and increases in concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols. Climate change in Africa has several effects. There are …

Can Carbon Trading & Carbon Tax Be Applied Simultaneously In China?, Ping Chen

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

There is a growing debate between two competing climate change policy instruments – ‘cap and trade’ and ‘carbon tax’. Until now, both of them have worked well in different jurisdictions in order to reduce GHGs emissions. For those countries just consider to apply either of the two approaches like China, it is more convinced to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches before making the choice.

The cap-and-trade system has been implemented by the European Union since 2005. The performance of EU cap-and-trade system shows many advantages. For instance, it can predict a clear environmental outcome by setting …

Legal Challenges In Promoting Sustainability- The Bioenergy Case, Helle Tegner Anker, Birgitte Egelund Olsen

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Addressing climate concerns and reducing reliance on fossil fuels has been a broadly accepted sustainability objective for decades. But, to what extent are alternatives to fossil fuels sustainable in themselves and what are the different legal or regulatory challenges and options in ensuring a certain level of sustainability of such alternatives?

Bioenergy or biofuels, i.e. energy based on biological material (biomass) is often being promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels.[1] There are many different types of bioenergy determined either by the type of biomass (e.g. crops, wood or waste) or by the type or purpose of use (e.g. …