| 1. |
- Reckermann, M., et al.
(author)
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Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region
- 2022
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In: Earth Syst. Dynam.. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2190-4987 .- 2190-4979. ; 13:1, s. 1-80
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coastal environments, in particular heavily populated semi-enclosed marginal seas and coasts like the Baltic Sea region, are strongly affected by human activities. A multitude of human impacts, including climate change, affect the different compartments of the environment, and these effects interact with each other. As part of the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR), we present an inventory and discussion of different human-induced factors and processes affecting the environment of the Baltic Sea region, and their interrelations. Some are naturally occurring and modified by human activities (i.e. climate change, coastal processes, hypoxia, acidification, submarine groundwater discharges, marine ecosystems, non-indigenous species, land use and land cover), some are completely human-induced (i.e. agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, river regulations, offshore wind farms, shipping, chemical contamination, dumped warfare agents, marine litter and microplastics, tourism, and coastal management), and they are all interrelated to different degrees. We present a general description and analysis of the state of knowledge on these interrelations. Our main insight is that climate change has an overarching, integrating impact on all of the other factors and can be interpreted as a background effect, which has different implications for the other factors. Impacts on the environment and the human sphere can be roughly allocated to anthropogenic drivers such as food production, energy production, transport, industry and economy. The findings from this inventory of available information and analysis of the different factors and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region can largely be transferred to other comparable marginal and coastal seas in the world.
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| 2. |
- Strandberg, G., et al.
(author)
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Bespoke climate indicators for the Swedish energy sector − a stakeholder focused approach
- 2024
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In: Climate Services. - Göteborg : IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet. - 2405-8807. ; 34, s. 100486-100486
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Climate change concerns the energy sector to a high degree because the sector is sensitive both to changing conditions for power and heat production, and to changing demand for electricity, heating and cooling. In this study potential consequences of climate change on different parts of the Swedish energy sector were assessed in a series of workshops, where climate and energy scientists, energy systems experts and analysts met with representativesof the energy sector to assess the vulnerability of the sector and consider what climate indicators could be used to assess impacts of relevance. The impact of climate change depends on the energy type. Hydropower, for which production is naturally linked to weather and climate, is significantly impacted by climate change. For other forms of production, such as nuclear power, other factors such as e.g. policy and technology development are more important. The series of workshops held in this study, where different aspects of climate change and consequences were discussed, proved very successful and has increased our understanding of climate impacts on the energy system.
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| 3. |
- Sheffield, Perry E., et al.
(author)
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Current and Future Heat Stress in Nicaraguan Work Places under a Changing Climate
- 2013
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In: Industrial Health. - : National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, Japan. - 0019-8366 .- 1880-8026. ; 51:1, s. 123-127
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While climate change continues to increase ambient temperatures, the resulting heat stress exposure to workers in non-climate controlled settings is not well characterized, particularly in low and middle income countries. This preliminary report describes current heat stress in Nicaraguan work places and estimates occupational heat stress in 2050. From over 400 measurements of heat exposure using wet bulb globe temperature, more than 10% of all measurements exceeded the safety threshold for the combination of light work and rest at the ratio of 25:75. By 2050, that percentage of "over-heated" days is projected to increase to over 15%. These findings support the idea that common working conditions in Nicaragua already represent a threat to the health and safety of the workers and that climate change driven trends could mean either a necessary curbing of economic productivity or an increased threat to worker health and safety.
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| 4. |
- Strandberg, G., et al.
(author)
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Regional climate model simulations for Europe at 6 k and 0.2 k yr BP: sensitivity to changes in anthropogenic deforestation.
- 2013
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In: Climate of the Past Discussions. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9340 .- 1814-9359. ; 9:5, s. 5785-5836
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims to evaluate the direct effects of anthropogenic deforestation on simulated climate at two contrasting periods in the Holocene, ~6 k BP and ~0.2 k BP in Europe. We apply RCA3, a regional climate model with 50 km spatial resolution, for both time periods, considering three alternative descriptions of the past vegetation: (i) potential natural vegetation (V) simulated by the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, (ii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land cover (deforestation) as simulated by the HYDE model (V + H), and (iii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land cover as simulated by the KK model (V + K). The KK model estimates are closer to a set of pollen-based reconstructions of vegetation cover than the HYDE model estimates. The climate-model results show that the simulated effects of deforestation depend on both local/regional climate and vegetation characteristics. At ~6 k BP the extent of simulated deforestation in Europe is generally small, but there are areas where deforestation is large enough to produce significant differences in summer temperatures of 0.5–1 °C. At ~0.2 k BP, simulated deforestation is much more extensive than previously assumed, in particular according to the KK model. This leads to significant temperature differences in large parts of Europe in both winter and summer. In winter, deforestation leads to lower temperatures because of the differences in albedo between forested and unforested areas, particularly in the snow-covered regions. In summer, deforestation leads to higher temperatures in central and eastern Europe since evapotranspiration from unforested areas is lower than from forests. Summer evaporation is already limited in the southernmost parts of Europe under potential vegetation conditions and, therefore, cannot become much lower. Accordingly, the albedo effect dominates also in summer, which implies that deforestation causes a decrease in temperatures. Differences in summer temperature due to deforestation range from −1 °C in south-western Europe to +1 °C in eastern Europe. The choice of anthropogenic land cover estimate has a significant influence on the simulated climate, but uncertainties in palaeoclimate proxy data for the two time periods do not allow for a thorough comparison with climate model results.
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| 5. |
- Uhlig, E., et al.
(author)
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The live bacterial load and microbiota composition of prepacked “ready-to-eat” leafy greens during household conditions, with special reference to E. coli
- 2022
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In: International Journal of Food Microbiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-1605. ; 377
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ready-to-eat (RTE) leafy greens are popular products that unfortunately have been associated with numerous foodborne illness outbreaks. Since the influence of consumer practices is essential for their quality and safety, the objective of this study was to analyze the microbiota of RTE products throughout shelf life during simulated household conditions. Products from different companies were analyzed in terms of plate counts, and resealed and unopened packages were compared. High bacterial loads were found, up to a total plate count of 9.6 log10 CFU/g, and Enterobacteriaceae plate counts up to 6.0 CFU/g on the expiration date. The effect of consumer practice varied, thus no conclusions regarding resealed or unopened bags could be drawn. The tested products contained opportunistic pathogens, such as Enterobacter homaechei, Hafnia paralvei and Pantoea agglomerans. Amplicon sequencing revealed that the relative abundance of major taxonomic groups changed during shelf life; Pseudomonadaceae and Xanthomonadaceae decreased, while Flavobacteriaceae and Marinomonadaceae inceased. Inoculation with E. coli CCUG 29300T showed that the relative abundance of Escherichia-Shigella was lower on rocket than on other tested leafy greens. Inoculation with E. coli strain 921 indicate growth at the beginning of shelf-life time, while E. coli 731 increases at the end, seemingly able to adapt to cold storage conditions. The high levels of live microorganisms, the detection of opportunistic pathogens, and the ability of E. coli strains to grow at refrigeration temperature raise concerns and indicate that the shelf life may be shortened to achieve a safer product. Due to variations between products, further studies are needed to define how long the shelf-life of these products should be, to ensure a safe product even at the end of the shelf-life period.
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| 6. |
- Uhlig, E., et al.
(author)
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Use of bacterial strains antagonistic to Escherichia coli for biocontrol of spinach : A field trial
- 2021
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In: Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies. - : Elsevier BV. - 1466-8564. ; 74
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To counteract global food safety hazards related to raw consumption of ready-to-eat leafy vegetables, a method to improve bacterial status using antagonistic bacteria was studied under field conditions. This is the first study to identify potential Escherichia coli antagonists from the native microbiota on leafy green vegetables and evaluate their effect in an industrial field production setting. Bacterial strains were isolated from different types of leafy green vegetables and selected upon their effect against E. coli in vitro, and out of 295 tested bacterial strains, 37 showed an antagonistic effect. Four of those antagonistic strains were coated in separate treatments onto spinach seeds and planted in the field. Both seeds and plants were analyzed by Illumina MiSeq next generation sequencing (NGS), and it was seen that the microbiota of the plants contained lower relative abundance of plant and human pathogenic genera. Higher β-diversity was observed for the samples treated with Bacillus coagulans LMG P-32205 and B. coagulans LMG P-32206 compared to control, indicating that those strains have induced substantial changes in the native microbiota of the leaves. A reduction of Escherichia-Shigella was seen for two of the isolates (Pseudomonas cedrina LMG P-32207 and Pseudomonas punonenis LMG P-32204) as the seeds developed into plants. Seeds inoculated with two of the strains (B. coagulans LMG P-32205 and B. coagulans LMG P-32206) had increased levels of Lactobacillaceae, and treatment with B. coagulans LMG P-32206 resulted in lower levels of Pantoea (from 31.4 to 12.2%). These results encourage the usage of bacterial antagonists as part of a global solution to reduce the risk of human pathogens on leafy green vegetables.
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| 9. |
- Elgered, Gunnar, 1955, et al.
(author)
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Validation of climate models using European ground-based GNSS observations
- 2009
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In: Proc. of 2nd Colloquium Scientific and Fundamental Aspects of the Galileo Programme, European Space Agency, 15-19 October, 2009, Padua, Italy. ; CD ROM
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We summarize an ongoing research project where we assess the quality of time series of the Integrated Water Vapour in the atmosphere estimated from ground-based GNSS data for the application of validating and possibly improving climate models. The focus is on the factors limiting the accuracy and especially the long-term stability of the GNSS technique.Higher order ionospheric corrections have been studied, using realistic values for the Total Electron Content (TEC) close to the solar maximum in 2002. Averaged over ten days we find that the impact in the mean IWV is less than 0.1 kg/m^2. Another factor is the model used for antenna phase centre variations. We have studied this effect on the IWV estimates by simulations and by studying estimates of the IWV based on observed GPS signals. We find that ignoring satellite antenna phase variations, when processing GPS data from 2003-2008, can significantly influence the values of the estimated linear trends. The value depends on the latitude of the site as well as on the elevation cut-off angle used in the data analysis. Finally, we show a significant correlation between estimated linear trends in the IWV and the corresponding linear trends in the independently observed ground temperature.
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| 10. |
- Elliott, D. C., et al.
(author)
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Technoeconomic assessment of direct biomass liquefaction to transportation fuels
- 1990
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In: Biomass. - 0144-4565. ; 22:1-4, s. 251-269
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper discusses the results of a technoeconomic assessment of direct biomass liquefaction processes converting wood to gasoline and diesel fuels. The study was carried out by the Working Group of the International Energy Agency Direct Biomass Liquefaction Activity, in which Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the US participated. The processes chosen for detailed analysis were Atmospheric Flash Pyrolysis (AFP) and Liquefaction In Pressurized Solvent (LIPS). The assessment covered three steps for each process from feed to final product: 1. 1. primary liquefaction to a crude oil product, 2. 2. catalytic hydrotreating to upgrade the crude product to a deoxygenated product oil, 3. 3. refining the deoxygenated product to gasoline and diesel fuel. Present technology cases and potential future technology cases were evaluated. A consistent analytical basis was used throughout to allow comparison of the processes. This assessment shows that AFP is more economical than LIPS both for the production of boiler fuel oil as the primary liquefaction product and for the production of gasoline and diesel fuel products. The potential for future cost reduction through research and development is also clearly demonstrated.
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