Dynamic climate control

In the patented ComforTemp nonwovens [19] polyurethane-based foams, the incorporated PCMs surround the wearer with dynamic climate control (DCC). When the wearer is active - for example, during skiing, snowboarding or mountaineer-... 

These preliminary investigations on the role of colloids in high-latitude rivers clearly shows differences compared to rivers from the tropics, even if the total dissolved organic content is similar. This observation shows that there is a potential interesting climatic control on the nature and dynamics of colloids. 

The main tools used to provide global projections of future climate are general circulation models (GCMs). These are mathematical models based on fundamental physical laws and thus constitute dynamical representations of the climate system. Computational constraints impose a limitation on the resolution that it is possible to realise with such models, and so some unresolved processes are parameterised within the models. This includes many key processes that control climate sensitivity such as clouds, vegetation and oceanic convection [19] of which scientific understanding is still incomplete. 

Essentially, this concerns formation of a software package, the input to which will be data on the spatial distribution of land and marine ecosystems, as well as sets of scenarios of anthropogenic processes and climatic trends. Such a database will be continuously updated and provide sequences of models to provide reliable forecasts of the dynamics of these ecosystems and will facilitate realization of hypothetic scenarios for Arctic environmental control. 

Ultimately, the redox state of a depositional system represents a dynamic balance between supply of electron acceptors and their consumption during OM remineralization. The key controls include water-column mixing rate, which is influenced by relative sea level and climate, and OM production and export rates (plus feedback expressed in water-column redox and... 

Detrital processing can be thought of as a continuum from fresh litter to stabilized SOM (Agren and Bosatta, 2002). At different stages in this continuum, the relative importance of each of these environmental and biological factors that have been identified as controlhng decomposition dynamics will likely vary. The initial stages of mass loss are characteristically most affected by climate, resource quality, and, when abundant, soil macrofauna. The physical soil environment also needs to be considered as an important control on the turnover of more humified SOM in the mineral horizons. It is also evident from this literature review that observed correlations between decay rates and decomposition factors are often attributable to both the direct effects of that factor on microbial metabolism and to the indirect interactions with other factors. 

The Earth s climate depends among other parameters (see later) on the chemical composition of the atmosphere. Thus, any variation in the composition raises the possibility of climatic change. First of all, the chemical composition regulates the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. However, since differences in radiation balance in various geographical regions control the atmospheric circulation, there is also a relationship between composition and dynamic processes. In this chapter we shall deal mainly with the effects of compositional variations on the radiation balance. Moreover, the significance of so-called feedback mechanisms will also be stressed. 

James G. Anderson is Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at Harvard University. He received his B.S. in physics from the University of Washington and his Ph.D. in physics-astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado. His research addresses three domains within physical chemistry (1) chemical reactivity viewed from the microscopic perspective of electron structure, molecular orbitals, and reactivities of radical-radical and radical-molecule systems (2) chemical catalysis sustained by free-radical chain reactions that dictate the macroscopic rate of chemical transformation in the Earth s stratosphere and troposphere and (3) mechanistic links between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics in the atmosphere that control climate. Studies are carried out both in the laboratory, where elementary processes can be isolated, and within natural systems, in which reaction networks and transport patterns are dissected by establishing cause and effect using simultaneous, in situ detection of free radicals, reactive intermediates, and long-lived tracers. Professor Anderson is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. 

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