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Abstract. The impact of multiphase reactions involving nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and aromatic compounds was simulated in this study. A mechanism (CAPRAM 2.4, MODAC Mechanism) was applied for the aqueous phase reactions, whereas RACM was applied for the gas phase chemistry. Liquid droplets were considered as monodispersed with a mean radius of 0.1 µm and a liquid content (LC) of 50 µg m-3. The multiphase mechanism has been further extended to the chemistry of aromatics, i.e. reactions involving benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol and cresol have been added. In addition, reaction of NO2 with dissociated hydroxyl substituted aromatic compounds has also been implemented. These reactions proceed through charge exchange leading to nitrite ions and therefore to nitrous acid formation. The strength of this source was explored under urban polluted conditions. It was shown that it may increase gas phase HONO levels under some conditions and that the extent of this effect is strongly pH dependent. Especially under moderate acidic conditions (i.e. pH above 4) this source may represent more than 75% of the total HONO/NO2 - production rate, but this contribution drops down close to zero in acidic droplets (as those often encountered in urban environments).

The net energy (NE) system takes into account the metabolic utilisation of energy and has been proposed as a superior system for characterising the energy value of feeds. In growing pigs, the inefficiency of ME utilisation for NE (or the heat increment, HI) is dependent on many factors, among them the genotype, which implies that published NE prediction equations may not apply across all genotypes. We conducted a study to investigate the effect of two genotypes (Yorkshire-Hampshire♀ × Duroc♂; YH × D) and Large white♀ × Landrace♂; LW × LR) on heat production (HP) and NE value of a corn soybean meal-based diet fed to growing pigs. The diet met or exceeded the nutrient specifications of 20-50 kg b.w. pigs according to NRC (1998). A total of sixteen barrows were used, eight of each genotype (initial b.w. of 20.1 ± 1.1 and 19.0 ± 0.9 kg for YH ×D and LW × LR, respectively). Pigs were initially fed at 550 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day (high ME intake) for determination of DE and ME in metabolism crates. Thereafter, HP was measured using an indirect calorimeter at either high ME or 330 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day (low ME intake) to estimate fasting HP (FHP) by regression. Pigs were allowed a 3-d adaptation period at low ME intake before measurement of HP. Irrespective of the genotype, a reduction of ME intake resulted in a decrease (P < 0.0001) of HP (352 for high ME vs. 292 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day for low ME). Pigs of LW × LR tended (P = 0.07) to have higher HP than those of YH× D and their estimated FHP was 175 and 103 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, respectively. The determined diet NE value was lower for the YHxD genotype (2,307 vs. 2633 kcal/kg DMI, P = 0.01) than for the LW × LR genotype. Pigs of LW × LR genotype showed lower (179 vs. 226 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P = 0.003) HI than YH × D genotype and were determined to retain less energy as protein (100 vs. 123 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P =0.04) and more energy as fat (73 vs. 42 kcal/kg b.w.-0.60/day, P = 0.04). The diet NE value was 96% (LW × LR) and 81% (YH × D) of the predicted NE from published equations. In conclusion, a corn-soybean meal fed at equal amounts resulted in different HP and NE value depending on genotype.

Even with the benefits of sustainability and climate change reporting, there is limited information on how municipalities are reporting on performance for external stakeholders in comparison with private sector organizations. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the current state of sustainability and climate change reporting at the local level and to investigate the extent to which municipalities across Ontario, Canada, report. We used content analysis to identify the presence or non-presence of information on the websites of 38 municipalities and analyzed the results using descriptive statistics. Our analysis showed that the sample municipalities were not widely reporting on sustainability or climate change performance. Also, we identified a gap between the number of plans and reports produced by sample municipalities, with the latter being less common, indicating a need for an improved evaluation of plan implementation. Further, we found that a provincial regulation that required municipalities to make their energy conservation and demand management plans public did not guarantee publication of the plan on a municipality’s website. This study contributes to the growing field of sustainability and climate change planning and reporting by local governments and offers empirical evidence specific to Ontario, Canada.

This study aimed to realize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., no poverty, zero hunger, and sustainable cities and communities through the implementation of an intelligent cattle-monitoring system to enhance dairy production. Livestock industries in developing countries lack the technology that can directly impact meat and dairy products, where human resources are a major factor. This study proposed a novel, cost-effective, smart dairy-monitoring system by implementing intelligent wireless sensor nodes, the Internet of Things (IoT), and a Node-Micro controller Unit (Node-MCU). The proposed system comprises three modules, including an intelligent environmental parameter regularization system, a cow collar (equipped with a temperature sensor, a GPS module to locate the animal, and a stethoscope to update the heart rate), and an automatic water-filling unit for drinking water. Furthermore, a novel IoT-based front end has been developed to take data from prescribed modules and maintain a separate database for further analysis. The presented Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSNs) can intelligently determine the case of any instability in environmental parameters. Moreover, the cow collar is designed to obtain precise values of the temperature, heart rate, and accurate location of the animal. Additionally, auto-notification to the concerned party is a valuable addition developed in the cow collar design. It employed a plug-and-play design to provide ease in implementation. Moreover, automation reduces human intervention, hence labor costs are decreased when a farm has hundreds of animals. The proposed system also increases the production of dairy and meat products by improving animal health via the regularization of the environment and automated food and watering. The current study represents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the proposed implementation with the existing systems that validate the novelty of this work. This implementation can be further stretched for other applications, i.e., smart monitoring of zoo animals and poultry.

Camptotheca acuminata is considered a natural medicinal plant with antitumor activity. The assessment of climate change impact on its suitable habitats is important for cultivation and conservation. In this study, we applied a novel approach to build ecological niche models with both climate and soil variables while the confounding effects between the variables in the two categories were avoided. We found that the degree-days below zero and mean annual precipitation were the most important climatic factors, while the basic soil saturation, soil gravel volume percentage, and clay content were the main soil factors, determining the suitable habitats of C. acuminata. We found that suitable habitats of this species would moderately increase in future climates under both the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios for the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s. However, substantial shifts among levels of habitat suitability were projected. The dual high-suitable habitats would expand, which would be favorable for commercial plantations. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climate change on this species and provide a scientific basis for the cultivation and conservation purposes.

Abstract Because climate has the greatest effect in determining the genetic structure of forest tree species, climatic variables with large effects on growth and survival need to be identified. This would enable proper matching of tree populations to planting sites in the present and future climates. We analysed 24-year survival (S24), height (H24) and diameter (D24) from a series of white spruce provenance trials with 46 populations and 8 test sites in Alberta, Canada. We determined: (1) the amount and pattern of genetic variation, (2) the response of populations to climatic transfer and (3) the potential effects of climate change (2030-2039) on H24 and S24 of the species in Alberta. We found that: (1) using the intraclass correlation, the between-population genetic variance was 10.6% (H24) and 6.6% (D24) of the betweenpopulation phenotypic variance across sites, (2) three climatic white spruce regions exist in Alberta within which variation in growth potential is strongly clinal, (3) the annual moisture index (AMI) expressed as a ratio of degree days above 5°C (GDD) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) was the major determinant of survival and growth at the test sites, (4) we found that at the level of AMI predicted for the 2030-2039 period, survival and growth would decline substantially in the continental part (northern and central) of Alberta where drought already exists. However, during the same period, survival and growth would increase substantially in the foothills and Rocky Mountains region where growth is currently limited by low GDD due to a short growing season.

Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is a still relatively new technique. One of its main application challenges is interpreting the three dimensions of its results in combined fashion. This paper presents the first attempt at an integrated solution-oriented approach in the LCSA, while simultaneously interpreting the results of the three assessments in a combined fashion toward improving the sustainability performance of product systems. It is based on a case study of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) production in Alberta, Canada. The methodology is characterized by five steps: (1) goal and scope definition; (2) inventory analysis; (3) impact assessment; (4) interpretation where the results of the three tools of LCSA are presented and an integrated analysis of the sustainability results following the strong sustainability model and using the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework, is conducted to propose sustainability improvements for the case study product; (5) discussion and conclusion. The integrated approach developed was able to propose some sustainability improvement proposals along the life cycle of HDPE. Yet, challenges exist in interpreting the interrelationships between the three assessment results. Moving from comparative integrated assessment approach in LCSA to solution-oriented approach still faces challenges. This work highlighted some of the research tasks that need more focus from the LCSA community to demonstrate how LCSA can contribute to sustainable development by improving the sustainability performance of product systems.