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Karenia brevis (Davis cf. Hansen & Moestrup = Gymnodinium breve) is the non-peridinin containing dinoflagellate responsible for many harmful algal blooms (red tides) in the Gulf of Mexico. These recurrent blooms can have significant negative ecological, economic, and human health impacts including fish kills, tainting of shellfish, poisoning of marine mammals, loss of tourism revenue due to beach closures, and respiratory distress and food poisoning in humans. A method for detection of Karenia brevis was developed based upon amplification of the mRNA for the plastid-encoded gene of the carbon fixing enzyme ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) large subunit (rbcL). Using sequence information from a primer set targeting a 554-bp region of the Karenia rbcL gene, a small (91 bp amplicon) primer and probe set was created for TaqMan(registered trademark) real time RT-PCR of K. brevis rbcL. The primer/probe set is sensitive to as little as 0.1 fg of target transcript and as little as 1 pg of total cellular K. brevis RNA extract, corresponding to less than 1 cell reaction-1. The primer/probe set did not amplify rbcL transcript from any of the non-target algae tested. Bloom samples analyzed by this method have shown the assay to be a reliable method, with effective enumeration and a linear relationship showing good correlation to the cell counts by microscopy (r2= 0.8344). The assay has been shown to be robust and perform well even in non-ideal conditions, with pre-extraction RNA from unialgal culture stable at room temperature for up to 3 days and up to a month at -80 degrees C in Stratagene's lysis buffer. The transcription of the rbcL gene demonstrated minor variation throughout the diel period, however the variation was not linked to the diel cycle or to carbon fixation, which showed a distinct diel signal. Due to the relatively constant expression of the rbcL gene, the real-time RT-PCR assay developed should be able to reliably enumerate K. brevis populations in the natural environment, as long as the sample is placed in Stratagene's lysis buffer and processed within one or two days or frozen at -80 degrees C and processed within a month.

Does the choice of a medium, by which a company’s advertising message is carried, communicate something about that company’s commitment to act responsibly towards the green environment? Does the choice of a medium that consumers perceive as more harmful for the green environment impact ad and brand evaluations more negatively than a medium that they perceive as less harmful? If so, to what extent do companies have knowledge of such change in consumer media behavior and thereby take into account the green environmental aspect with media selection? Driven by such questions, and by way of an experiment, secondary data analysis, interviews and surveys this thesis explores green media selection and its impact on communication effectiveness from the consumer’s and marketing manager’s perspective. Building on theories of advertising planning and media selection the thesis contributes with four empirical studies to increase the understanding of green advertising media and how consumers’ eco-harmful media perceptions impact communication effectiveness. The findings shed light on the importance of taking the green environmental aspect into account when practitioners select advertising media. This is particularly valid for companies that are committed to act responsibly toward the green environment, by for instance having documented green environmental policies, and wish to be associated as such through their brands and marketing communication thereof. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2013</p>

The introduction of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens transferred through ships' ballast water and sediments from one coastal region to another has ecological, economic, environmental, and human impacts. The international community, through numerous binding and non-binding instruments, also sought to combat this problem. Ultimately, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 was adopted by the International Maritime Organization as the dedicated legal regime intended to prevent, control and ultimately eradicate the introduction and spread of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through ships' ballast water and sediments. By its Regulations, the Convention sets out coastal/port and flag State obligations along with subsequently adopted technical Guidelines by which to implement it. Despite the importance of this problem, the Convention has not entered into force. This study assesses the potential of the Convention to promote achievement of the goal to prevent and eliminate this source of marine and biodiversity degradation and destruction. The study finds that the Convention constitutes a useful global legal regime within which steps can be taken to establish uniform ground rules, standards and practices to combat the introduction, transfer and spread of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens across the world's coastal and marine areas. Nevertheless, its potential is undermined, among others, by the exemption of some categories of ships from its application, financial costs, especially to developing States, of implementing its requirements, and by the fact that its provisions do not account for other salient sources by which harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens are spread. Suggestions are made to encourage more ratification to bring the Convention into force and on remedying some of the weaknesses in the formulation of its rules. It is concluded that if it is ratified by sufficient and wide number of States as well as conscientiously implemented by States, adopting additional national laws and policies to regulate areas which are not addressed by the Convention, it would facilitate progress in the global effort to improve the protection of marine environments, ecosystems, and biodiversity, specifically, as regards the contribution towards combating the introduction and transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens via ships' ballast water and sediments. / The threat posed by harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens to the society at large is devastating. The Ballast Water Management Convention 2004 was adopted to remedy this problem. Though the Convention has potential to combat the threat, it has some ambiguities. This study concludes that if the provisions of the Convention, coupled with the recommendations made in this study are implemented at State level, we will have an international community that is free from the menace posed by harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens introduced through ships' ballast water and sediments, and a safer marine ecosystems will be ensued for us in due time.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The species composition of planktonic communities is determined not only by abiotic factors, such as nutrient availability, temperature, and water column stratification but also by biotic interactions between hosts and parasites, predators and prey, and among competitors. Blooms of the red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, can dramatically alter the planktonic community, reaching densities of millions of cells per liter and occurring nearly monospecifically. I investigated whether K. brevis uses chemical compounds to defend against grazing or to inhibit the growth of competitors. Because K. brevis is known to produce brevetoxins which act as potent neurotoxins in mammals, I also investigated whether brevetoxins played a role in competition or predator resistance. Experiments revealed that copepods fed diets rich in Karenia brevis experienced lowered fitness, however, nutritional inadequacy, rather than toxicity, was responsible for the decrease in grazer fitness. Compounds exuded from natural samples of K. brevis blooms did, however, inhibit the growth of four of five model competitors. Compounds exuded from K. brevis cultures were similarly allelopathic to competitors. Exposure to these allelopathic compounds resulted in lowered photosynthetic efficiency of all competitors, and decreased cell membrane integrity of three competitors. The allelopathic potency of K. brevis blooms was variable between collections and years, but allelopathy did not correlate with bloom density or concentration of brevetoxins. However, the variability of allelopathy could partially be explained by the presence of specific competitors. The diatom Skeletonema costatum reduced the growth-inhibiting effects of K. brevis bloom exudates, suggesting that S. costatum has a mechanism for undermining K. brevis allelopathy. Allelopathic compounds exuded by K. brevis that inhibited the growth of the diatom Asterionellopsis glacialis were partially characterized. K. brevis produced multiple, polar, organic compounds that inhibited A. glacialis growth. Exuded brevetoxins, on the other hand, had no effect on A.glacialis growth. Taken together, these results indicate that K. brevis is not chemically defended against grazing, but does produce yet-unidentified allelopathic compounds that inhibit the growth of competing phytoplankton. Blooms of K. brevis may be facilitated by the exudation of potent allelopathic compounds, but the specific phytoplankton assemblage has the potential to alter bloom dynamics.

The member states of European Union aim to promote the reduction of harmful emissions. Emissions from combustion processes cause effects on human health and pose environmental issues, for example by increasing greenhouse effect. There are two ways to reduce emissions; one is to promote renewable energy sources and the other to utilize more effectively the available fossil fuels until a long-term solution is available. Hence, it is necessary to strive for CO2 mitigation technologies applied to fossil fuels. Low natural gas prices together with high energy efficiency have made gas turbines popular in the energy market. But, gas turbine fired with natural gas come along with emissions of CO2, NOx and CO. However, these disadvantages can be eliminated by using gas turbine with precombustion CO2 capture, separating carbon from the fuel by using fuel reforming process and feeding pure hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen fired gas turbines are used in two applications such as a gas turbine with pre-combustion CO2 capture and for renewable power plants where hydrogen is stored in case as a backup plan. Although the CO2 emissions are reduced in a hydrogen fired gas turbine with a pre-combustion CO2 capture, there are still several challenges such as high flame temperatures resulting in production of thermal NOx. This project suggests a method for application of hydrogen fired gas turbine, using exhaust gas recirculation to reduce flame temperature and thus reducing thermal NOx. A NOx emission model for a hydrogen-fired gas turbine was built from literature data and used to select the best operating conditions for the plant. In addition, the economic benefits of switching from natural gas to pure hydrogen are reported. For the techno-economic analysis, investment costs and operating costs were taken from the literature, and an economic model was developed. To provide sensitivity analysis for the techno-economic calculation, three cases were studied. Literature review was carried out on several journal articles and websites to gain understanding on hydrogen and natural gas fired gas turbines. Results showed that, in the current state, pure hydrogen has high delivery cost both in the US and Europe. While it’s easy to access natural gas at low cost, therefore in the current state gas turbine fired with natural gas are more profitable than hydrogen fired gas turbine. But, if targeted hydrogen prices are reached while fuel reforming process technology are developed in the coming future the hydrogen fired gas turbine will compete seriously with natural gas.

For over ten years the Western Basin of Lake Erie has been plagued by significant harmful algal blooms (HABs). Lake Erie is a body of water situated between the United States of America (USA) and Canada. The lake provides water to approximately 40 million people and is a considerable source of economic value. The Western Basin of Lake Erie is highly prone to HABs due to the shallow depth and large phosphorus (P) loads received from the large area of agricultural land surrounding the lake and its tributaries. HABs cause extensive ecosystem degradation, have multiple negative health impacts, and cause significant economic losses for the tourism and fishery industries. Five products with P load reducing properties from the three nutrient control categories (biological, physical, and chemical) were chosen to determine how effective their P load reduction pathways were. Additionally, these products were analyzed to determine if they could generate positive remediation effects on the Lake Erie HAB. Of these five products, the technologies Water 3.0 and PO4 Sponge were applied to a Western Basin HAB model generated using the Stella Professional software from ISEE Systems. The two products were modeled individually and collectively to compare the application effects on the HAB model. The model results illustrate the significant reduction in P load and HAB extent that the application of these products at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and within waterways could have. The application of both products at multiple locations within the model showed the greatest P load reduction and nearly eliminated the HAB extent. Unfortunately, the residual P from extensive historical P loading into the lake would prevent such a significant reduction from occurring for over a decade. Current practices and regulations in the Lake Erie Basin are not stimulating P load reductions significant enough to remediate the HAB. As the Western Basin HAB continues to occur annually, the waste stream produced by the HAB remains unutilized. Implementing new and innovative technologies in the basin can generate high quality commodity streams out of the wasted biological algal matter. Meanwhile the implementation of new technologies and practices can help reduce the HAB to a smaller size that would have smaller negative impacts to the economy, health, and ecology.

L'innovation engendre la croissance économique et permet d'accroître le niveau de vie des populations. Cette proposition de Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1912) a été plutôt confortée que contestée par les faits empiriques. De nombreux travaux ont en effet montré que le lien entre innovation, croissance et niveau de vie existe. Ainsi, il existe un assez large consensus sur l'idée qu'encourager l'innovation devrait constituer l'un des objectifs prioritaires de la politique économique. Cependant, de nombreuses innovations peuvent affecter la richesse, la santé ou même la liberté de l'ensemble de la société ou de certains de ses membres. Par exemple, les semences OGM peuvent permettre d'accroître la production agricole, mais peuvent également avoir un impact négatif sur la santé humaine et l'environnement. C'est également le cas de nombreuses innovations à caractère médical, les nanotechnologies, certains logiciels, certains produits financiers, etc. Partant de l’hypothèse que l’innovation peut être génératrice d’effets négatifs, cette thèse propose un cadre théorique pour guider le décideur public dans la mise en œuvre d’une politique avisée. Dans un premier temps, nous évaluons tour à tour la performance de plusieurs instruments permettant de réglementer une innovation potentiellement nuisible. Nous examinons deux règles de responsabilité distinctes et nous caractérisons les conditions sous lesquelles chaque réponse réglementaire devrait être mise en oeuvre par les pouvoirs publics. Contrairement à des travaux antérieurs, nous montrons notamment que même si l’innovateur a une responsabilité illimitée, les autorisations peuvent être optimales. D’autre part, en cas de responsabilité limitée, nous établissons que les pénalités ne devraient jamais être privilégiées. Dans un second temps, nous déterminons la politique de brevet optimale lorsque l’innovation est à l’origine d’une externalité négative. Dans ce cas, la largeur du brevet influence non seulement la perte sèche induite par la propriété industrielle mais également la taille de l’effet externe. Nous proposons plusieurs interprétations du concept de largeur et nous caractérisons la structure optimale du brevet. Par ailleurs, nous nous penchons sur la question de savoir quelle récompense attribuer aux innovateurs et nous montrons notamment qu’une politique de brevet modulée gratifiant celles et ceux ayant mis en œuvre une stratégie de Recherche & Développement (R&D) précautionneuse d’une protection industrielle plus forte pourrait être un instrument à même de contenir l’émergence d’innovations génératrices de nuisances. Enfin, nous considérons que plusieurs entreprises sont engagées dans une course à l’innovation et nous caractérisons les conditions sous lesquelles une augmentation de la rivalité conduit ces dernières à précipiter le processus de R&D au risque d’introduire une innovation nuisible. Nous proposons plusieurs méthodes de mesure du degré de rivalité et nous montrons notamment que, dès lors qu’il existe un certain équilibre entre les coûts et les bénéfices engendrés par la précaution, la rivalité rend les entreprises plus enclines à négliger les actions préventives/correctives et à briser la séquentialité du processus de R&D. / Innovation drives economic growth and it increases the standard of living of populations. This proposition of Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1912) has been rather confirmed than challenged by empirical evidence. Indeed, much research has shown that the link between innovation, economic growth and standard of living does exist. Hence, there is a fairly broad consensus on the idea that fostering innovation should constitute one of the main objectives of the economic policy. However, many innovations can affect the wealth, the health, or even the freedom of the society as a whole or of some of its members. For instance, genetically-modified seeds enable farmers to increase agricultural production but they may also have a negative effect on public health and the environment. This is also the case of nanotechnologies, certain software, some financial products, etc. On the assumption that innovations may induce social harm, this thesis provides a theoretical framework in order to guide the regulator in implementing a sound policy. First, we successively evaluate the performance of several instruments available for regulating potentially harmful innovations. We examine two distinct liability rules and we characterize the conditions under which each regulatory response should be implemented. Unlike previous work, we show that even though the innovator has unlimited liability, authorizations may be optimal. Furthermore, in case of limited liability, we establish that penalties should never be favored. Second, we determine the optimal patent policy when the innovation generates a negative externality. In that case, the patent breadth not only influences the deadweight loss induced by the industrial property, but also the size of the external effect. We provide several interpretations of the concept of breadth and we compute the optimal patent structure. Besides, we address the question of how much to reward innovators and we show that a modulated patent policy giving stronger protection to those who have implemented safe Research & Development (R&D) strategies might be an instrument with the potential to prevent the emergence of harmful innovations. Last, we consider several firms engaged in an innovation race and we determine the conditions under which an increase in rivalry leads them to hasten the R&D process at the risk of introducing a harmful innovation. We provide several methods of measurement for the degree of competition and we show that whenever there is some balance between the cost and the benefit induced by safety, then rivalry makes firms more inclined to overlook preventive/corrective actions and to break the sequentiality of R&D.

No ensino da medicina veterinária esta implícito o uso de animais para o aprendizado das mais diversas habilidades profissionais, sendo que na maioria das vezes os animais utilizados nas práticas pedagógicas sofrem algum tipo de prejuízo ou morrem para este fim. Com o aumento da preocupação ética em relação aos animais, nas últimas duas décadas, surgiu a necessidade de se substituir estes métodos de ensino onde havia prejuízo aos animais e ao aprendizado do aluno, por métodos humanitários. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o conhecimento e opinião dos alunos das Faculdades de Medicina Veterinária brasileiras acerca da implementação dos chamados &ldquo;métodos substitutivos&ldquo; ao uso prejudicial de animais e os métodos que estão sendo utilizados atualmente. Foram obtidas 1383 respostas de estudantes de medicina veterinária de 26 estados brasileiros e do Distrito Federal, que responderam questionário semiaberto divulgado de forma online e as respostas foram submetidas à uma analise estatística que nos permitiu concluir que 47,9% dos entrevistados desconhecem a principal legislação acerca do uso de animais, 66,4% afirmaram conhecer o que é um método substitutivo ao uso de animais, 87,7% entendem como &quot;uso prejudicial de animais&rdquo; a eutanásia de um animal saudável para fins didáticos&rdquo;; 55,6% acreditam que métodos substitutivos podem sim substituir o uso de animais, desde que seja o método apropriado e que a principal vantagem desta substituição seria o fato de que são métodos eticamente aceitáveis onde não há crueldade contra animais&rdquo; (57,3%) e a principal desvantagem seria o custo para aquisição (51,8%). Cerca de 93% indicaram que há utilização de animais no seu curso, sendo que a principal espécie o cão (76,5%) e a anatomia apontada como a disciplina que mais utiliza animais. Quanto as aulas de técnica cirúrgica, o método mais citado foi o uso de cadáveres preservados (27,2%).Quanto a utilização de métodos substitutivos, 47,3% responderam que seus cursos utilizam estes métodos e que a disciplina que mais utilizava métodos como manequins, simuladores, vídeos, e softwares era a de anatomia, seguidas das disciplinas de clinica e cirurgia de pequenos animais, que utilizavam atendimento clinico de animais da comunidade ou de ONGs. De acordo com os dados analisados, podemos afirmar que os alunos de Instituições de ensino públicas tiveram mais contato com o conceito dos 3Rs que os alunos de Instituições de ensino privadas e que não há diferenças significativas entre as Instituições públicas e privadas quanto ao uso de métodos substitutivos. Diante destes resultados, faz-se necessário um esforço de toda comunidade acadêmica, dos docentes, dos coordenadores e do comitê de ética da escola no sentido de se desenvolver e implantar métodos didáticos humanitários e eficazes, que possam ir ao encontro das necessidades e posicionamentos éticos dos estudantes de medicina veterinária / In veterinary medicine teaching is implicit the use of animals for learning different professional skills, and most of the time these animals used in pedagogical practices suffer some kind of injury or die for this purpose. With the increasing of the ethical concern for animals in the last two decades, emerged the necessity to replace these teaching methods to humane methods. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the &quot;substitutive methods&quot; to the harmful use of animals in veterinary teaching and training in Brazilian Schools, through information obtained from undergraduate students. They were obtained 1383 answers of veterinary medical students from 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District, who responded an online semi-open questionnaire, the responses were submitted to a statistical analysis and we concluded that 47.9% of respondents are unaware of the main legislation about the use of animals, 66.4% said they knew what is a substitute method to animal use, 87.7% perceive as &quot;harmful use of animals&#39; - euthanasia of healthy animals for teaching purposes&quot;; 55.6% believe that substitutive methods can replace the use of animals, but depends of the method, the main advantage of these humane methods is the fact that they are ethically acceptable and avoid animal cruelty&quot;(57.3%) and the main problem would be the cost of acquisition (51.8%). About 93% indicated that use animals in its course, and the main specie is the dog (76.5%) and the anatomy was considered the discipline that use most animals. In the surgical classes, the most cited method was the use of preserved cadavers (27.2%). Regarding the use of substitutive methods, 47.3% answered that their courses using these methods and the discipline that most used methods such as mannequins, simulators, videos, and software was the anatomy, followed by clinical disciplines and surgery of small animals who used clinical care of animals from the community or NGOs. According to the data analysed, we can say that most students of public education institutions had contact with the concept of the 3Rs than students in private educational institutions and there are no significant differences between public and private institutions on the use of substitutive methods. According to this result, is necessary an effort of the academic community (teachers, coordinators and school ethics committee) in order to develop and implement humane and effective teaching methods, which can meet the ethical requirements and positions of students of veterinary medicine