Questing ticks were sampled monthly over a period of 11 months from February, 2011 to December, 2011 at 13 sites in southern Germany using the flagging method. The ticks were identified to species, gender, and stadium. Although both I. ricinus and D. reticulatus were sampled, this study concentrated on I. ricinus, since it was the most abundant tick to be found. Additional weather data (air and...

The current model for energy production, based on the intense use of fossil fuels, is both unsustainable and environmentally harmful and consequently, a shift is needed in the direction of integrating the renewable energy sources into the energy balance. However, these energy sources are unpredictable and uncontrollable as they strongly depend on time varying and uncertain hydrometeorological v...

Current strategies to protect groundwater sources from microbial contamination (e.g., wellhead protection areas) rely upon natural attenuation of microorganisms between wells or springs and potential sources of contamination and are determined using average (macroscopic) groundwater flow velocities defined by Darcy's Law. However, field studies of sewage contamination and microbial transport us...

Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant Once again, Pennsylvania has made national headlines as a pioneer in the public reporting of information related to medical quality. Now with the release of PHC4's report on hospitalacquired infections (HAI) in Pennsylvania, the state has focused a very bright light on a critical health care issue with national policy implications. Indeed, Pennsylvania is the f...

Cumulative exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) increases the risk of developing skin cancer, particularly squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. Thus, the need for protection from the sun is widely advocated, but consumers generally associate such protection with the occasional extreme exposure and tend to ignore the risk of long-term exposure. In fact, a sun exposure model predi...

In spite of precautions to avoid the harmful effects of extreme events, we experience recurrently phenomena that overcome the preventive barriers. These barriers usually increase drastically right after the occurrence of such extreme events, but steadily decay in their absence. In this paper we consider a simple model that mimics the evolution of the protection barriers to study the efficiency ...

With the rapid development of global economy, energy resources and environmental problems continue to deteriorate. As an industry with high consumption, sustainable construction is vital. Prefabricated housing can overcome disadvantages traditional methods such as long periods, low production efficiency, engineering quality safety, achieve goals fast construction, safety durability, carbon prot...