Search results for: micro-climate change

Authors: Poonam Sharma, Ankur Srivastav

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Cities are complex and dynamic systems that constitute a significant challenge to urban planning. The increasing size of the built-up area owing to growing population pressure and economic growth have lead to massive Landuse/Landcover change resulted in the loss of natural habitat and thus reducing the green covers in urban areas. Urban environmental quality is influenced by several aspects, including its geographical configuration, the scale, and nature of human activities occurring and environmental impacts generated. Cities have transformed into complex and dynamic systems that constitute a significant challenge to urban planning. Cities and their sustainability are often discussed together as the cities stand confronted with numerous environmental concerns as the world becoming increasingly urbanized, and the cities are situated in the mesh of global networks in multiple senses. A rapid transformed urban setting plays a crucial role to change the green area of natural habitats. To examine the pattern of urban growth and to measure the Landuse/Landcover change in Gurgoan in Haryana, India through the integration of Geospatial technique is attempted in the research paper. Satellite images are used to measure the spatiotemporal changes that have occurred in the land use and land cover resulting into a new cityscape. It has been observed from the analysis that drastically evident changes in land use has occurred with the massive rise in built up areas and the decrease in green cover and therefore causing the sustainability of the city an important area of concern. The massive increase in built-up area has influenced the localised temperatures and heat concentration. To enhance the decision-making process in urban planning, a detailed and real world depiction of these urban spaces is the need of the hour. Monitoring indicators of key processes in land use and economic development are essential for evaluating policy measures.

Keywords: cityscape, geospatial techniques, green cover index, urban environmental quality, urban planning

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Authors: Abdullah Erden, Filiz Erden

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In the present information society era, a change is seen in every field together with changing technology. Along with this change, importance given to information and human who is the producer of information increased. Work life and working conditions included in these changes have also been affected. The most important factors that disturb employees in offices are lighting, ventilation, noise and office furniture. Upon arrangement of these according to ergonomic principles, performance and efficiency of employees will increase. Fatigue and stress resulting from office environment are harmful for employees. Attention and efficiency of employee who feels bad will decrease. It should be noted that office employees are human and affected from environment. It should be allowed them to work in comfortable, healthy and peaceful environment. As a result, efficiency will increase and target will be reached. In this study, it has been focused on basic concepts such as office management and efficiency, effects of ergonomics on office efficiency has been examined. Also, a place is given to the factors affecting operational efficiency and effects of physical environment on employees.

Keywords: ergonomics, efficiency, office design, office

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Authors: Thomas Ruppert, Shana Jones, J. Scott Pippin

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State and federal government agencies within the United States have recently invested substantial resources into studies of future flood risk conditions associated with climate change and sea-level rise. A review of numerous case studies has uncovered several key themes that speak to an overall incoherence within current flood risk assessment procedures in the U.S. context. First, there are substantial local differences in the quality of available information about basic infrastructure, particularly with regard to local stormwater features and essential facilities that are fundamental components of effective flood hazard planning and mitigation. Second, there can be substantial mismatch between regulatory Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) as produced by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and other 'current condition' flood assessment approaches. This is of particular concern in areas where FIRMs already seem to underestimate extant flood risk, which can only be expected to become a greater concern if future FIRMs do not appropriately account for changing climate conditions. Moreover, while there are incentives within the NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS) to develop enhanced assessments that include future flood risk projections from climate change, the incentive structures seem to have counterintuitive implications that would tend to promote moral hazard. In particular, a technical finding of higher future risk seems to make it easier for a community to qualify for flood insurance savings, with much of these prospective savings applied to individual properties that have the most physical risk of flooding. However, there is at least some case study evidence to indicate that recognition of these issues is prompting broader discussion about the need to move beyond FIRMs as a standalone local flood planning standard. The paper concludes with approaches for developing climate adaptation and flood resilience strategies in the U.S. that move away from the social welfare model being applied through NFIP and toward more of an informed risk approach that transfers much of the investment responsibility over to individual private property owners.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, flood risk, moral hazard, sea-level rise

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Authors: Oussama Fertaq

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This paper investigates the latest advancements in CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) technologies, which are vital for addressing the growing challenge of climate change. The study focuses on multiple techniques for CO₂ capture, including chemical absorption, membrane separation, and adsorption, analyzing their efficiency, scalability, and environmental impact. The research further explores geological storage options such as deep saline aquifers and depleted oil fields, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by each method. This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating CCS with existing industrial processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively. It also discusses the economic and policy frameworks required to promote wider adoption of CCS technologies. The findings of this study offer a comprehensive view of the potential of CCS in achieving global climate goals, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as energy and manufacturing.

Keywords: CO₂ capture, carbon storage, climate change mitigation, carbon sequestration, environmental sustainability

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Authors: Markéta Slováková

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The largest share of policy and money within the European Union goes to agriculture. The Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has undergone several transformations in the last five decades, with the main change taking place in the 1990's. This change influenced agriculture in the Czech Republic, inasmuch as the fledgling republic was preparing to join the European Union and adopt its policies. In the 1990s, Czech agriculture passed from a centrally planned economy to a market economy and subsequently adopted the terms of the Common Agricultural Policy. The Czech Republic is also characterized by a significant landscape sphere diversification. Agricultural entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic are still not used the possibility of grants from the European Union. They focus rather on national or regional subsidy titles. Only half of all agricultural entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic use European subsidies. This article focuses on the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy to the Czech Republic and its subsequent influence on Czech agriculture. It is demonstrated on the implementation rate of the CAP in the EU Member States and the closer focus is on the Czech integration.

Keywords: common agricultural policy, agriculture, European Union, transformation

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Authors: Jigg Pelayo, Ricardo Villar, Einstine Opiso

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The rampant and unintended spread of urban areas resulted in increasing artificial component features in the land cover types of the countryside and bringing forth the urban heat island (UHI). This paved the way to wide range of negative influences on the human health and environment which commonly relates to air pollution, drought, higher energy demand, and water shortage. Land cover type also plays a relevant role in the process of understanding the interaction between ground surfaces with the local temperature. At the moment, the depiction of the land surface temperature (LST) at city/municipality scale particularly in certain areas of Misamis Oriental, Philippines is inadequate as support to efficient mitigations and adaptations of the surface urban heat island (SUHI). Thus, this study purposely attempts to provide application on the Landsat 8 satellite data and low density Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) products in mapping out quality automated LST model and crop-level land cover classification in a local scale, through theoretical and algorithm based approach utilizing the principle of data analysis subjected to multi-dimensional image object model. The paper also aims to explore the relationship between the derived LST and land cover classification. The results of the presented model showed the ability of comprehensive data analysis and GIS functionalities with the integration of object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach on automating complex maps production processes with considerable efficiency and high accuracy. The findings may potentially lead to expanded investigation of temporal dynamics of land surface UHI. It is worthwhile to note that the environmental significance of these interactions through combined application of remote sensing, geographic information tools, mathematical morphology and data analysis can provide microclimate perception, awareness and improved decision-making for land use planning and characterization at local and neighborhood scale. As a result, it can aid in facilitating problem identification, support mitigations and adaptations more efficiently.

Keywords: LiDAR, OBIA, remote sensing, local scale

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Authors: Shef Amir Arasy

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In 2023, the world's population will be 7.8 billion, which has increased significantly in the last 20 years. Every country in the world is experiencing the impacts of climate change directly and indirectly. However, the community still needs to build massive infrastructure and buildings. The massive CO2 emissions which lead to climate change come from cement usage in construction activity. Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials for reducing carbon emissions and releasing more than 30% oxygen compared to the mass of trees. Besides, bamboo harvest time is faster than other sustainable materials, around 3-4 years. Furthermore, Bamboo has a high tensile strength, which can provide ductility effectively to prevent damage to buildings during an earthquake. By the finite element method, this research analyzes bamboo configuration and connection for tall building structures under different earthquake frequencies and fire. The aim of this research is to provide proper design and connection of bamboo buildings that can be more reliable than concrete structures.

Keywords: bamboo, concrete, ductility, earthquake.

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Authors: Randall E. Osborne

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A four-step ‘humanities’ thought model has been used in an interdisciplinary course for almost two decades and has been proven to aid in student abilities to become more inclusive in their world view. Lack of tolerance for ambiguity can interfere with this progression so we developed an assignment that seems to have assisted students in developing more tolerance for ambiguity and, therefore, opened them up to make more progress on the critical thought model. A four-step critical thought model (built from a humanities education approach) is used in an interdisciplinary course on prejudice, discrimination, and hate in an effort to minimize egocentrism and promote sociocentrism in college students. A fundamental barrier to this progression is a lack of tolerance for ambiguity. The approach to the course is built on the assumption that Tolerance for Ambiguity (characterized by a dislike of uncertain, ambiguous or situations in which expected behaviors are uncertain, will like serve as a barrier (if tolerance is low) or facilitator (if tolerance is high) of active ‘engagement’ with assignments. Given that active engagement with course assignments would be necessary to promote an increase in critical thought and the degree of multicultural attitude change, tolerance for ambiguity inhibits critical thinking and, ultimately multicultural attitude change. As expected, those students showing the least amount of decrease (or even an increase) in intolerance across the semester, earned lower grades in the course than those students who showed a significant decrease in intolerance, t(1,19) = 4.659, p < .001. Students who demonstrated the most change in their Tolerance for Ambiguity (showed an increasing ability to tolerate ambiguity) earned the highest grades in the course. This is, especially, significant because faculty did not know student scores on this measure until after all assignments had been graded and course grades assigned. An assignment designed to assist students in making their assumption and inferences processes visible so they could be explored, was implemented with the goal of this exploration then promoting more tolerance for ambiguity, which, as already outlined, promotes critical thought. The assignment offers students two options and then requires them to explore what they have learned about inferences and/or assumptions This presentation outlines the assignment and demonstrates the humanities model, what students learn from particular assignments and how it fosters a change in Tolerance for Ambiguity which, serves as the foundational component of critical thinking.

Keywords: critical thinking, humanities education, sociocentrism, tolerance for ambiguity

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Authors: Stamatis Zoras, Vasilis Evagelopoulos, Theodoros Staurakas

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The association between elevated air pollution levels and extreme climate conditions (temperature, particulate matter, ozone levels, etc.) and mental consequences has been, recently, the focus of significant number of studies. It varies depending on the time of the year it occurs either during the hot period or cold periods but, specifically, when extreme air pollution and weather events are observed, e.g. air pollution episodes and persistent heatwaves. It also varies spatially due to different effects of air quality and climate extremes to human health when considering metropolitan or rural areas. An air pollutant concentration and a climate extreme are taking a different form of impact if the focus area is countryside or in the urban environment. In the built environment the climate extreme effects are driven through the formed microclimate which must be studied more efficiently. Variables such as biological, age groups etc may be implicated by different environmental factors such as increased air pollution/noise levels and overheating of buildings in comparison to rural areas. Gridded air quality and climate variables derived from the land surface observations network of West Macedonia in Greece will be analysed against mortality data in a spatial format in the region of West Macedonia. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools will be used for data correction and prediction of health deterioration with climatic conditions and air pollution at local scale. This would reveal the built environment implications against the countryside. The air pollution and climatic data have been collected from meteorological stations and span the period from 2000 to 2009. These will be projected against the mortality rates data in daily, monthly, seasonal and annual grids. The grids will be operated as AI-based warning models for decision makers in order to map the health conditions in rural and urban areas to ensure improved awareness of the healthcare system by taken into account the predicted changing climate conditions. Gridded data of climate conditions, air quality levels against mortality rates will be presented by AI-analysed gridded indicators of the implicated variables. An Al-based gridded warning platform at local scales is then developed for future system awareness platform for regional level.

Keywords: air quality, artificial inteligence, climatic conditions, mortality

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Authors: A. Flammini, R. Morbidelli, C. Saltalippi

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The increase of air surface temperature at global scale is a fact, with values around 0.85 ºC since the late nineteen century, as well as a significant change in main features of rainfall regime. Nevertheless, the detected climatic changes are not equally distributed all over the world, but exhibit specific characteristics in different regions. Therefore, studying the evolution of climatic indices in different geographical areas with a prefixed standard approach becomes very useful in order to analyze the existence of climatic trend and compare results. In this work, a methodology to investigate the climatic change and its effects on a wide set of climatic indices is proposed and applied at regional scale in the case study of a Mediterranean area, Umbria region in Italy. From data of the available temperature stations, nine temperature indices have been obtained and the existence of trends has been checked by applying the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test, while the non-parametric Pettitt test and the parametric Standard Normal Homogeneity Test (SNHT) have been applied to detect the presence of break points. In addition, aimed to characterize the rainfall regime, data from 11 rainfall stations have been used and a trend analysis has been performed on cumulative annual rainfall depth, daily rainfall, rainy days, and dry periods length. The results show a general increase in any temperature indices, even if with a trend pattern dependent of indices and stations, and a general decrease of cumulative annual rainfall and average daily rainfall, with a time rainfall distribution over the year different from the past.

Keywords: climatic change, temperature, rainfall regime, trend analysis

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Authors: Hyo-Su Lim, Ye-Eun Song, Eun-Bi Lee, Sang-Yoon Lee, Young-Il Seo, Jin-Pyo Kim, Nam-Kyu Park

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If we analogize any physical external force given to victims in many crimes including violence, it would be possible not only to presume mutual action between victims and suspects, but to make a deduction of more various facts in cases. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify criminal tools through secretion on clothes by using amino acid reagents such as Ninhydrin, DFO(1,8-dizafluoren-9-one), 1,2 – IND (1,2-indanedione) which are reacting to skin secretion. For more effective collecting condition, porcine skin which is physiologically similar to human was used. Although there were little differences of shape identification according to sensitivity, amino acid reagents were able to identify the fist, foot, and baseball bat. Furthermore, we conducted the experiments for developmental variations through change over time setting up 5-weeks period including first damage as variation factor, and developing materials in each action through certain reagents. Specimen level of development depending on change over time was identified. As a result, each of initial level of development was seen no changes.

Keywords: hit marks, amino acid reagents, porcine skin, criminal tool

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Authors: Sherine A. El Baradei

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Global warming and climatic change are very important topics that are being studied and investigated nowadays as they have lots of diverse impacts on mankind, water quality, aquatic life, wildlife,…etc. Also, many water and hydraulics structures like dams and barrages are being built every day to satisfy water consumption needs, irrigation purposes and power generating purposes. Each of global warming and water structures alone has diversity of impacts on water quality and aquatic life in rivers. This research is investigating the dual combined effect of both water structures and global warming on the water quality and aquatic life through mathematical modeling. A case study of the Esna Barrage on the Nile River in Egypt is being studied. This research study is taking into account the effects of both seasons; namely, winter and summer and their effects on air and hence water temperature of the Nile reach under study. To do so, the study is conducted on the last 23 years to investigate the effect of global warming and climatic change on the studied river water. The mathematical model is then combining the dual effect of the Esna barrage and the global warming on the water quality; as well as, on aquatic life of the Nile reach under study. From the results of the mathematical model, it could be concluded that the dual effect of water structures and global warming is very negative on the water quality and the aquatic life in rivers upstream those structures.

Keywords: aquatic life, barrages, climatic change, dissolved oxygen, global warming, river, water quality, water structures

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Authors: Anwar H. Radwan, Jan Mrlina, El-Sayed A. Issawy, Ali Rayan, Salah M. Mahmoud

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Geodynamic investigations in the Aswan Lake region were started after the M=5.5 earthquake in 1981, triggered by the lake water fluctuations. Besides establishing the seismological networks, also the geodetic observations focused on the Kalabsha and Sayal fault zones were started. It was found that the Kalabsha fault is an active dextral strike-slip with normal component indicating uplift on its southern side. However, the annual velocity rates in both components do not exceed 2 mm/y, and do not therefore represent extremely active faulting. We also launched gravity monitoring in 1997, and performed another two campaigns in 2000 and 2002. The observed non- tidal temporal gravity changes indicate rather the flood water infiltration into the porous Nubian sandstone, than tectonic stress effect. The station nearest to the lake exhibited about 60 μGal positive gravity change within the 1997-2002 period.

Keywords: gravity monitoring, surface movements, Lake Aswan, groundwater change

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Authors: Ouabo Emmanuel Romaric, Amougou Armathe

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Background and aim: The study of impacts of floods and landslides at a small scale, specifically in the urban areas of developing countries is done to provide tools and actors for a better management of risks in such areas, which are now being affected by climate change. The main objective of this study is to assess the hydrometeorological vulnerabilities associated with flooding and urban landslides to propose adaptation measures. Methods: Climatic data analyses were done by calculation of indices of climate change within 50 years (1960-2012). Analyses of field data to determine causes, the level of risk and its consequences on the area of study was carried out using SPSS 18 software. The cartographic analysis and GIS were used to refine the work in space. Then, spatial and terrain analyses were carried out to determine the morphology of field in relation with floods and landslide, and the diffusion on the field. Results: The interannual changes in precipitation has highlighted the surplus years (21), the deficit years (24) and normal years (7). Barakat method bring out evolution of precipitation by jerks and jumps. Floods and landslides are correlated to high precipitation during surplus and normal years. Data field analyses show that populations are conscious (78%) of the risks with 74% of them exposed, but their capacities of adaptation is very low (51%). Floods are the main risk. The soils are classed as feralitic (80%), hydromorphic (15%) and raw mineral (5%). Slope variation (5% to 15%) of small hills and deep valley with anarchic construction favor flood and landslide during heavy precipitation. Mismanagement of waste produce blocks free circulation of river and accentuate floods. Conclusion: Vulnerability of population to hydrometeorological risks in Yaoundé VI is the combination of variation of parameters like precipitation, temperature due to climate change, and the bad planning of construction in urban areas. Because of lack of channels for water to circulate due to saturation of soils, the increase of heavy precipitation and mismanagement of waste, the result are floods and landslides which causes many damages on goods and people.

Keywords: climate change, floods, hydrometeorological, vulnerability

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Authors: Ossama Abdelmotaal, Olfat Shaker, Tarek Salman, Lamiaa Nabeel, Mostafa Shabayek

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Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is an important worldwide health problem. Colonoscopy is used in detecting CRC suffer from drawbacks where colonoscopy is an invasive method. This study validates easier and less time-consuming techniques to evaluate the usefulness of detecting miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in the sera of colorectal cancer patients as new diagnostic tools. This study includes malignant (Colo Rectal Cancer patients, n= 64)) and healthy (n=27) groups. The studied groups were subjected to colonoscopic examination and estimation of miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in sera by RT-PCR. miRNA-21 showed the statistically significantly highest median fold change. miRNA-378 showed statistically significantly lower value (Both showed over-expression). miRNA-215 showed the statistically significantly lowest median fold change (It showed down-regulation). Overall the miRNA (21-215 and 378) appear to be promising method of detecting CRC and evaluating its stages.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, miRNA-21, miRNA-215, miRNA-378

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Authors: Mahmoud Roushdi, Hany Mostafa, Khaled Kheireldin

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Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor are promising and important economic regions in Egypt due to the unique location and development opportunities. Thus, the climate change impacts should be assessed over the mentioned area. Accordingly, this paper aims to assess the climate extreme indices in through the last 35 year over Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor in addition to predict the climate extreme indices up to 2100. Present and future climate indices were analyzed with using different RCP scenarios 4.5 and 8.5 from 2010 until 2100 for Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor. Furthermore, both CanESM and HadGEM2 global circulation models were used. The results indicate that the number of summer days is predicted to increase, on the other hand the frost days is predicted to decrease. Moreover, it is noted a slight positive trend for the percentile of wet and extremely days R95p and R99p for RCP4.5 and negative trend for RCP8.5.

Keywords: climate change, extreme indices, RCP, Sinai Peninsula

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Authors: Y. B. Sharma, K. B. Biswas

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This research project examines a 5000 cal yr BP sediment core record to reveal the consequences of human impact and climate variability on the tropical dry forests of the Mahi river basin, western India. To date there has been little research to assess the impact of climate variability and human impact on the vegetation dynamics of this region. There has also been little work to link changes in vegetation cover to documented changes in the basin hydrology over the past 100 years – although it is assumed that the two are closely linked. The key objective of this research project therefore is to understand the driving mechanisms responsible for the abrupt changes in the Mahi river basin as detailed in historical documentation and its impact on water resource management. The Mahi river basin is located in western India (22° 11’-24° 35’ N 72° 46’-74° 52’ E). Mahi river arises in the Malwa Plateau, Madhya Pradesh near Moripara and flows through the uplands and alluvial plain of Rajasthan and Gujarat provinces before draining into the Gulf of Cambay. Palaeoecological procedures (sedimentology, geochemical analysis, C&N isotopes and fossil pollen evidences) have been applied on sedimentary sequences collected from lakes in the Mahi basin. These techniques then facilitate to reconstruct the soil erosion, nutrient cycling, vegetation changes and climatic variability over the last 5000 years. Historical documentation detailing changes in demography, climate and landscape use over the past 100 years in this region will also be collated to compare with the most recent palaeoecological records. The results of the research work provide a detailed record of vegetation change, soil erosion, changes in aridity, and rainfall patterns in the region over the past 5000 years. This research therefore aims to determine the drivers of change and natural variability in the basin. Such information is essential for its current and future management including restoration.

Keywords: human impact, climate variability, vegetation cover, hydrology, water resource management, Mahi river basin, sedimentology, geochemistry, fossil pollen, nutrient cycling, vegetation changes, palaeoecology, aridity, rainfall, drivers of change

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Authors: Muhardiyan Erawan, Zaenal Mutaqin

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Balingara River is one of the rivers with the type Gravel-Bed in Indonesia. Gravel-Bed Rivers easily deformed in a relatively short time due to several variables, that are climate (rainfall), river discharge, topography, rock types, and land cover. To determine stream channel changes in Balingara River used Landsat 7 and 8 and analyzed planimetric or two dimensions. Parameters to determine changes in the stream channel are sinuosity ratio, Brice Index, the extent of erosion and deposition. Changes in stream channel associated with changes in land cover then analyze with a descriptive analysis of spatial and temporal. The location of a stream channel has a low gradient in the upstream, and middle watershed with the type of rock in the form of gravel is more easily changed than other locations. Changes in the area of erosion and deposition influence the land cover changes.

Keywords: Brice Index, erosion, deposition, gravel-bed, land cover change, sinuosity ratio, stream channel change

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Authors: Gadisa Demie, Mesele Negash, Zerihun Asrat, Lojka Bohdan

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Deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics have led to significant carbon (C) emissions. Agroforestry (AF) is a suitable land-use option for tackling such declines in ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation. However, it is unclear how biomass models, AF practices, and socio-ecological factors determine these roles, which hinders the implementation of climate change mitigation initiatives. This study aimed to estimate the ecosystem C stocks of the studied AF practices in relation to socio-ecological variables in central Ethiopia. Out of 243 AF farms inventoried, 108 were chosen at random from three AF practices to estimate their biomass and soil organic carbon. A total of 432 soil samples were collected from 0–30 and 30–60 cm soil depths; 216 samples were taken for each soil organic carbon fraction (%C) and bulk density computation. The study found that the currently developed allometric equations were the most accurate to estimate biomass C for trees growing in the landscape when compared to previous models. The study found higher overall biomass C in woodlots (165.62 Mg ha-¹) than in homegardens (134.07 Mg ha-¹) and parklands (19.98 Mg ha-¹). Conversely, overall, SOC was higher for homegardens (143.88 Mg ha-¹), but lower for parklands (53.42 Mg ha-¹). The ecosystem C stock was comparable between homegardens (277.95 Mg ha-¹) and woodlots (275.44 Mg ha-¹). The study found that elevation, wealthy levels, AF farm age, and size have a positive and significant (P < 0.05) effect on overall biomass and ecosystem C stocks but non-significant with slope (P > 0.05). Similarly, SOC increased with increasing elevation, AF farm age, and wealthy status but decreased with slope and non-significant with AF farm size. The study also showed that species diversity had a positive (P <0.05) effect on overall biomass C stocks in homegardens. The overall study highlights that AF practices have a great potential to lock up more carbon in biomass and soils; however, these potentials were determined by socioecological variables. Thus, these factors should be considered in management strategies that preserve trees in agricultural landscapes in order to mitigate climate change and support the livelihoods of farmers.

Keywords: agricultural landscape, biomass, climate change, soil organic carbon

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Authors: Krzysztof J. Czarnocki, E. Czarnocka, K. Szaniawska

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Main goal of the research project is Scaffold Use Risk Assessment Model (SURAM) formulation, developed for the assessment of risk levels as a various construction process stages with various work trades. Finally, in 2016, the project received financing by the National Center for Research and development according to PBS3/A2/19/2015–Research Grant. The presented data, calculations and analyzes discussed in this paper were created as a result of the completion on the first and second phase of the PBS3/A2/19/2015 project. Method: One of the arms of the research project is the assessment of worker visual concentration on the sight zones as well as risky visual point inadequate observation. In this part of research, the mobile eye-tracker was used to monitor the worker observation zones. SMI Eye Tracking Glasses is a tool, which allows us to analyze in real time and place where our eyesight is concentrated on and consequently build the map of worker's eyesight concentration during a shift. While the project is still running, currently 64 construction sites have been examined, and more than 600 workers took part in the experiment including monitoring of typical parameters of the work regimen, workload, microclimate, sound vibration, etc. Full equipment can also be useful in more advanced analyses. Because of that technology we have verified not only main focus of workers eyes during work on or next to scaffolding, but we have also examined which changes in the surrounding environment during their shift influenced their concentration. In the result of this study it has been proven that only up to 45.75% of the shift time, workers’ eye concentration was on one of three work-related areas. Workers seem to be distracted by noisy vehicles or people nearby. In opposite to our initial assumptions and other authors’ findings, we observed that the reflective parts of the scaffoldings were not more recognized by workers in their direct workplaces. We have noticed that the red curbs were the only well recognized part on a very few scaffoldings. Surprisingly on numbers of samples, we have not recognized any significant number of concentrations on those curbs. Conclusion: We have found the eye-tracking method useful for the construction of the SURAM model in the risk perception and worker’s behavior sub-modules. We also have found that the initial worker's stress and work visual conditions seem to be more predictive for assessment of the risky developing situation or an accident than other parameters relating to a work environment.

Keywords: accident assessment model, eye tracking, occupational safety, scaffolding

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Authors: Ayse Begum Kilic, Sevgi Ozkan

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Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a significant and promising research topic that is expected to gain more importance due to its effects on important concepts like cost, resource management, and accessibility. Instead of focusing those effects in only one area, combining different departments, and see the big picture helps to make more realistic predictions about the future. The aim of this paper is to identify the implications of Industry 4.0 for both supply chain management and human resources management by finding out the topics that take place at the intersection of them. Another objective is helping the readers to realize the expected changes in these two areas due to I4.0 in order to take the necessary steps in advance and make recommendations to catch up the latest trends. The expected changes are concluded from the industry reports and related journal papers in the literature. As found in the literature, this study is the first to combine the Industry 4.0, supply chain management and human resources management and urges to lead future works by finding out the intersections of those three areas. Benefits of I4.0 and the amount, research areas and the publication years of papers on I4.0 in the academic journals are mentioned in this paper. One of the main findings of this research is that a change in the labor force qualifications is expected with the advancements in the technology. There will be a need for higher level of skills from the workers. This will directly affect the human resources management in a way of recruiting and managing those people. Another main finding is, as it is explained with an example in the article, the advancements in the technology will change the place of production. For instance, 'dark factories', a popular topic of I4.0, will enable manufacturers to produce in places that close to their marketplace. The supply chains are expected to be influenced by that change.

Keywords: human resources management, industry 4.0, logistics, supply chain management

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Authors: Maatouk Khoukhi

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An accurate prediction of the heat transfer through the envelope components of building is required to achieve an accurate cooling/heating load calculation which leads to precise sizing of the hvac equipment. This also depends on the accuracy of the thermal conductivity of the building insulation material. The proper use of thermal insulation in buildings (k-value) contribute significantly to reducing the HVAC size and consequently the annual energy cost. The first part of this paper presents an overview of building thermal insulation and their applications. The second part presents some results related to the change of the polystyrene insulation thermal conductivity with the change of the operating temperature and the moisture. Best-fit linear relationship of the k-value in term of the operating temperatures and different percentage of moisture content by weight has been established. The thermal conductivity of the polystyrene insulation material increases with the increase of both operating temperature and humidity content.

Keywords: building insulation material, moisture content, operating temperature, thermal conductivity

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Authors: Sujit Kumar

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Historicity of inter-caste relations can be traced in the early stages of evolution of rural community in the Indian society. These have witnessed vicissitudes during long drawn interactions between caste groups. Inter-caste relations evolved in a more organized form in the guise of Jajmani system. This is a system of permanent and hereditary inter-caste relations and gives a kaleidoscopic view of socio-economic relations among various caste groupings. Universality of its prevalence in rural India for centuries is well recognized and documented. But it has been undergoing metamorphic change in some regions and changing at a slower pace in the others during post-independence period. An empirical study was conducted with the objectives to know whether Jajmani system is in vogue in the rural areas and type and intensity of socio-economic ties among different caste categories and to find out the change in inter-caste relations, if any owing to industrialization and modernization. Information was elicited from 225 respondents using interview schedule designed for this purpose. It is discernible that in majority of cases, inter-caste social relations which find better expression on the occasions like marriage, death, birth and festivals etc. among Brahmins and lower castes vis-à-vis other caste categories have grown weak. The data further unearth that economic relations as maintained on the occasions of marriage, sacred thread ceremony, mundan sacrament, birthday, death, yajna, katha, routine hair cut, manufacture and repair of various iron, earthen, wooden and leather articles between members of higher castes (general category) and lower castes (scheduled castes) are moderate but weak in case of Other Backward Classes vis-à-vis all other caste categories. Overwhelming majority of informants believe that decline in hereditary occupations, depreciation of old products and services and their availability from the market being made by industry are main reasons in descending order for change in inter caste relations. Modernization, westernization, industrialization, transportation and communications, growing materialism and consumerism together have brought change in relations among caste groups affecting about a billion population inhabiting rural India.

Keywords: inter-caste, Jajmani, sacrament, Yajna

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Authors: Ven. Bhikkhu Ananda

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Mind emerged from the quantum field. The practice of mediation can take one to the state of enlightenment. During meditation, the change in the very behaviour of electrons, protons, and photons and their fields, known to be quantum fields, create mental states. This could well be expressed in the mathematical language of quantum mechanics. This paper qualifies and quantifies mental states created during meditation and is explained by quantum mechanics. In meditation, phenomenology can be seen as the process of enlightenment. In this process, the emptiness shown in Buddhist philosophy and the emptiness of quantum fields is compared. The methodologies used here are mindfulness meditation and metta mediation (compassion meditation ). The research findings suggest not only quantumness and change are consciousness, but well-founded behaviour of an individual in the society, which can amplify the positive behaviour caused by mental states, and that emptiness and impermanence of phenomenon are based on dependent arisings. The presence of quantum coherence indicates that quantum mechanics has a role in the evolution of the pure mind and the phenomenology created thereof in mediation.

Keywords: meditation, mental states, quantum mechanics, enlightenment

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Authors: Zafar Tabrez, Nizamuddin Khan

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Agriculture in India in the pre-green revolution period was mostly controlled by terrain, climate and edaphic factors. But after the introduction of innovative factors and technological inputs, green revolution occurred and agricultural scene witnessed great change. In the development of India’s agriculture, speedy, and extensive introduction of technological change is one of the crucial factors. The technological change consists of adoption of farming techniques such as use of fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides, improved variety of seeds, modern agricultural implements, improved irrigation facilities, contour bunding for the conservation of moisture and soil, which are developed through research and calculated to bring about diversification and increase of production and greater economic return to the farmers. The green revolution in India took place during late 60s, equipped with technological inputs like high yielding varieties seeds, assured irrigation as well as modern machines and implements. Initially the revolution started in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. With the efforts of government, agricultural planners, as well as policy makers, the modern technocratic agricultural development scheme was also implemented and introduced in backward and marginal regions of the country later on. Agriculture sector occupies the centre stage of India’s social security and overall economic welfare. The country has attained self-sufficiency in food grain production and also has sufficient buffer stock. Our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru said ‘everything else can wait but not agriculture’. There is still a continuous change in the technological inputs and cropping patterns. Keeping these points in view, author attempts to investigate extensively the mechanization of agriculture and the change by selecting western Trans-Ghaghara plain as a case study and block a unit of the study. It includes the districts of Gonda, Balrampur, Bahraich and Shravasti which incorporate 44 blocks. It is based on secondary sources of data by blocks for the year 1997 and 2007. It may be observed that there is a wide range of variations and the change in farm mechanization, i.e., agricultural machineries such as ploughs, wooden and iron, advanced harrow and cultivator, advanced thrasher machine, sprayers, advanced sowing instrument, and tractors etc. It may be further noted that due to continuous decline in size of land holdings and outflux of people for the same nature of works or to be employed in non-agricultural sectors, the magnitude and direction of agricultural systems are affected in the study area which is one of the marginalized regions of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Keywords: agriculture, technological inputs, farm mechanization, food production, cropping pattern

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Authors: Elison Eduardo Jardim Bierhals, Claudineia Brazil, Rafael Haag, Elton Rossini

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This work aims to validate and make the projections of solar energy for the Brazilian period from 2025 to 2100. As the plants designed by the HadGEM2-AO (Global Hadley Model 2 - Atmosphere) General Circulation Model UK Met Office Hadley Center, belonging to Phase 5 of the Intercomparison of Coupled Models (CMIP5). The simulation results of the model are compared with monthly data from 2006 to 2013, measured by a network of meteorological sections of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET). The performance of HadGEM2-AO is evaluated by the efficiency coefficient (CEF) and bias. The results are shown in the table of maps and maps. HadGEM2-AO, in the most pessimistic scenario, RCP 8.5 had a very good accuracy, presenting efficiency coefficients between 0.94 and 0.98, the perfect setting being Solar radiation, which indicates a horizontal trend, is a climatic alternative for some regions of the Brazilian scenario, especially in spring.

Keywords: climate change, projections, solar radiation, scenarios climate change

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Authors: Siamak Jamshidi

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The Caspian Sea is the Earth's largest inland body of water. One of the most important issues related to the sea is water level changes. For measuring and recording Caspian Sea water level, there are at least three gauges and radar equipment in Anzali, Nowshahr and Amirabad Ports along the southern boundary of the Caspian Sea. It seems that evaporation, hotter surface air temperature, and in general climate change is the main reasons for its water level fluctuations. Gorgan Bay in the eastern part of the southern boundary of the Caspian Sea is one of the areas under the effect of water level fluctuation. Based on the results of field measurements near the Gorgan Bay mouth temperature ranged between 24°C–28°C and salinity was about 13.5 PSU in midsummer while temperature changed between 10-11.5°C and salinity mostly was 15-16.5 PSU in mid-winter. The decrease of Caspian Sea water level and rivers outflow are the two most important factors for the increase in water salinity of the Gorgan Bay. Results of field observations showed that, due to atmospheric factors, climate changes and decreasing of precipitation over the southern basin of the Caspian Sea during last decades, the water level of bay was reduced around 0.5 m.

Keywords: Caspian Sea, Gorgan Bay, water level fluctuation, climate changes

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Authors: Chu Wai Ching, Kan Chi Wai

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Fashion industry is fast moving with intense competitions; it is hard for fashion retailers to stand out among their peers. In order to promote and enhance uniqueness, fashion retailers have collaborated with different brands or celebrity in their marketing campaign recently. As brand-celebrity collaboration is a growing phenomenon in the Hong Kong fashion industry, this research aims to investigate the effect of celebrity on altering consumer’s brand association and the overall attitude towards the co-branded products. One of the popular celebrity-collaborated fashion brands was chosen for this study and a survey was conducted among university students in Hong Kong which yielded 222 responses. By using factor analysis, linear regression and bootstrap test for the mediation, the results show that three celebrity attributes namely “expertise”, “trustworthiness” and “attractiveness” affect the evaluation of the co-branded products. In addition, the change in the association of the brand and co-branded product attributes mediates the relationship between the characteristics of the celebrity and the overall attitude of the co-branded product. The result shows “expertise” of the celebrity has a perfect mediation, while “trustworthiness” and “attractiveness” of the celebrity have partial mediation. This implies that expertise of the celebrity is capable in altering the association towards both the brand and core product attributes and bringing a positive attitude towards the co-brand. The trustworthiness and the attractiveness of the celebrity are able to alter the consumer association towards the brand, but do not guarantee a complete positive attitude towards the co-branded product. This means that change in brand attributes is not a definite mediator as direct relationship may happen or there may be other factors that can affect the relationship between the celebrity’s persuasiveness and the overall attitude towards the co-branded collection.

Keywords: brand attribute, brand-celebrity collaborations, co-branding, fashion industry

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Authors: Shanlong Lu, Jiming Jin, Xiaochun Wang

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The Tibetan Plateau has the largest number of inland lakes with the highest elevation on the planet. These massive and large lakes are mostly in natural state and are less affected by human activities. Their shrinking or expansion can truly reflect regional climate and environmental changes and are sensitive indicators of global climate change. However, due to the sparsely populated nature of the plateau and the poor natural conditions, it is difficult to effectively obtain the change data of the lake, which has affected people's understanding of the temporal and spatial processes of lake water changes and their influencing factors. By using the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) MOD09Q1 surface reflectance images as basic data, this study produced the 8-day lake water surface data set of the Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2012 at 250 m spatial resolution, with a lake water surface extraction method of combined with lake water surface boundary buffer analyzing and lake by lake segmentation threshold determining. Then based on the dataset, the lake water surface variations and their influencing factors were analyzed, by using 4 typical natural geographical zones of Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai, Qiangtang, and Southern Tibet, and the watersheds of the top 10 lakes of Qinghai, Siling Co, Namco, Zhari NamCo, Tangra Yumco, Ngoring, UlanUla, Yamdrok Tso, Har and Gyaring as the analysis units. The accuracy analysis indicate that compared with water surface data of the 134 sample lakes extracted from the 30 m Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper ) images, the average overall accuracy of the lake water surface data set is 91.81% with average commission and omission error of 3.26% and 5.38%; the results also show strong linear (R2=0.9991) correlation with the global MODIS water mask dataset with overall accuracy of 86.30%; and the lake area difference between the Second National Lake Survey and this study is only 4.74%, respectively. This study provides reliable dataset for the lake change research of the plateau in the recent decade. The change trends and influencing factors analysis indicate that the total water surface area of lakes in the plateau showed overall increases, but only lakes with areas larger than 10 km2 had statistically significant increases. Furthermore, lakes with area larger than 100 km2 experienced an abrupt change in 2005. In addition, the annual average precipitation of Southern Tibet and Southern Qinghai experienced significant increasing and decreasing trends, and corresponding abrupt changes in 2004 and 2006, respectively. The annual average temperature of Southern Tibet and Qiangtang showed a significant increasing trend with an abrupt change in 2004. The major reason for the lake water surface variation in Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai and Southern Tibet is the changes of precipitation, and that for Qiangtang is the temperature variations.

Keywords: lake water surface variation, MODIS MOD09Q1, remote sensing, Tibetan Plateau

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Authors: Rahman Davtalab

Abstract:

Florida is one of the most vulnerable states to natural disasters among the 50 states of the USA. The state exposed by tropical storms, hurricanes, storm surge, landslide, etc. Besides, the mentioned natural phenomena, global warming, sea-level rise, and other anthropogenic environmental changes make a very complicated and unpredictable system for decision-makers. In this study, we tried to highlight the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on surface water and groundwater systems for three different geographical locations in Florida; Main Canal of Jacksonville Beach (in the northeast of Florida adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean), Grace Lake in central Florida, far away from surrounded coastal line, and Mc Dill in Florida and adjacent to Tampa Bay and Mexican Gulf. An integrated hydrologic and hydraulic model was developed and simulated for all three cases, including surface water, groundwater, or a combination of both. For the case study of Main Canal-Jacksonville Beach, the investigation showed that a 76 cm sea-level rise in time horizon 2060 could increase the flow velocity of the tide cycle for the main canal's outlet and headwater. This case also revealed how the sea level rise could change the tide duration, potentially affecting the coastal ecosystem. As expected, sea-level rise can raise the groundwater level. Therefore, for the Mc Dill case, the effect of groundwater rise on soil storage and the performance of stormwater retention ponds is investigated. The study showed that sea-level rise increased the pond’s seasonal high water up to 40 cm by time horizon 2060. The reliability of the retention pond is dropped from 99% for the current condition to 54% for the future. The results also proved that the retention pond could not retain and infiltrate the designed treatment volume within 72 hours, which is a significant indication of increasing pollutants in the future. Grace Lake case study investigates the effects of climate change on groundwater recharge. This study showed that using the dynamically downscaled data of the groundwater recharge can decline up to 24% by the mid-21st century.

Keywords: groundwater, surface water, Florida, retention pond, tide, sea level rise

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