Search results for: unfavorable climate

Authors: Tae Young Jin, Jin Soo Kim

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Carbon emissions have emerged as global concerns. Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) have published reports about Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions regularly. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have held a conference yearly since 1995. Especially, COP21 held at December 2015 made the Paris agreement which have strong binding force differently from former COP. The Paris agreement was ratified as of 4 November 2016, they finally have legal binding. Participating countries set up their own Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), and will try to achieve this. Thus, carbon emissions must be reduced. The energy sector is one of most responsible for carbon emissions and fossil fuels particularly are. Thus, this paper attempted to examine the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth. To achieve this, we adopted the Cobb-Douglas production function that consists of natural gas consumption, economic growth, capital, and labor using dependent panel analysis. Data were preprocessed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to remove cross-sectional dependency which can disturb the panel results. After confirming the existence of time-trended component of each variable, we moved to cointegration test considering cross-sectional dependency and structural breaks to describe more realistic behavior of volatile international indicators. The cointegration test result indicates that there is long-run equilibrium relationship between selected variables. Long-run cointegrating vector and Granger causality test results show that while natural gas consumption can contribute economic growth in the short-run, adversely affect in the long-run. From these results, we made following policy implications. Since natural gas has positive economic effect in only short-run, the policy makers in developing countries must consider the gradual switching of major energy source, from natural gas to sustainable energy source. Second, the technology transfer and financing business suggested by COP must be accelerated. Acknowledgement—This work was supported by the Energy Efficiency & Resources Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20152510101880) and by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-205S1A3A2046684).

Keywords: developing countries, economic growth, natural gas consumption, panel data analysis

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Authors: Calvin Rong, Regina Agassian, Joel Hernandez, Mindy Engle-Friedman

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This study assessed strategies to stimulate engagement with future environmental needs. 32 participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions which involved imagining and drawing: 1) a generic person in current life, 2) one’s self in current life or 3) one’s self in the future. Participants before and after the intervention indicated connectedness to their selves 50 years in the future on an adapted Future Self-Continuity Scale. A significant interaction (p = .03) showed no difference in connectedness into one’s future self in the control group, a decrease in connectedness in those who imagined themselves in the present and an increase in connectedness in those who imagined themselves in the future. Results suggest attention to one’s present life circumstances may interfere with one’s connection with future environmental issues but imagining one’s future life may stimulate actions that result in future environmental protection.

Keywords: environmental psychology, future priming, climate change, global warming

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Authors: Carolina A. Santos, Alexandra B. Ribeiro

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Climate change and environmental degradation are threats to humanity. Europe has been addressing these problems, namely through the Green Deal, with the use of batteries in mobility and energy fields. However, these require the use of critical raw materials, like lithium, which demand is estimated to grow 60 times in the next 30 years. Thus, it is fundamental to promote a circular economy with lithium recovery from secondary resources. These are nowadays key topics, which will be even more relevant in the future, so a new way to approach them is needed and must be encouraged. Therefore, one of our main goals is to analyse two methods of lithium retrieval from secondary sources, bioleaching, and electrodialysis, and assess them regarding their sustainability. The latest results show good efficiency of removal with both methods, even though there are some matrix interferences. Hence, further investment and research are needed in order to make this process sustainable and our society more circular.

Keywords: lithium, sustainable mining, social license to operate, bioleaching, electrodialysis

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Authors: Elvan Ender, Ozge Celik

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Transportation systems play a vital role in access and egress in our lives. Concerns about environmental quality, social equity, economic vitality, and the threat of climate change have converged to produce a growing interest in the concept of sustainability, sustainable development, and sustainable transportation. Cities should respect nature, consider the urban ecological environment as an asset, integrate environmental issues into urban planning and administration, and accelerate the transition to sustainable development. This paper reviews current pedestrian and bike transportation in Bursa and proves the effects of unbalanced distribution to neighbourhoods of this presence. In this way creating proposal map for walking and bicycling to constitute a preliminary base for the physical urban planning of Bursa, has been aimed.

Keywords: Bursa, proposal map, sustainability, transportation

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: J. I. Santos, A. E. Cesarin, C. A. R. Sales, M. B. B. Triano, P. F. R. B. Martins, A. F. Braga, N. J. Neto, A., A. M. Barroso, P. L. C. A. Alves, C. A. M. Huaman

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Climate change projections based on the emission of greenhouse effect gases suggest an increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, in up to 750 ppm. In this scenario, we have significant changes in plant development, and consequently, in agricultural systems. This study aims to evaluate the interaction between culture (Glycine max) and weed (Amaranthus viridis and Euphorbia heterophylla) in two conditions of CO₂, 400 and 800 ppm. The results showed that the coexistence of culture with both weed species resulted in a mutual loss, with decrease in dry mass productivity of culture + weeds, in both conditions of CO₂. However, when the culture is grown in association with E. heterophylla, total dry mass of culture + weed was smaller at 800 ppm. Soybean was more aggressive in comparison to the A. viridis in both the concentrations of CO₂, but not in relation to the E. heterophylla.

Keywords: plants interaction, increase of [CO₂], plants of metabolismo C3, glycine max

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Authors: Fikre Belay Tekulu

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The Adigrat town lies in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. This region is mountainous and experiences a semiarid type of climate. Most of the rainfall occurs in four months of the year, which are June to September. During this season, flood is a common natural disaster, especially in urban areas. In this paper, an attempt is made to identify flood-prone areas in Adigrat town using Boolean logic with GIS and remote sensing techniques. Three parameters were incorporated as land use type, elevation, and slope. Boolean logic was used as land use equal to buildup land, elevation less than 2430 m, and slope less than 5 degrees. As a result, 0.575 km² was identified severely affected by floods during the rainy season.

Keywords: flood, GIS, hydrology, Adigrat

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Authors: William Sigvardsson, Christoffer Alenius, Jenny Lindblom, Andreas Johansson, Marcus Sandberg

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This article covers a study focusing on a subarctic greenhouse located in Nikkala, Sweden. Through a visit and the creation of a CFD model, the study investigates the differences in energy demand with high pressure sodium (HPS) lights and light emitting diode (LED) lights in combination with an air-carried and water-carried heating system accordingly. Through an IDA ICE model, the impact of insulating the parts of the greenhouse without active cultivation was also investigated. This, with the purpose of comparing the current system in the greenhouse to state-of-the-art alternatives and evaluating if an investment in either a water-carried heating system in combination with LED lights and insulating the non-cultivating parts of the greenhouse could be considered profitable. Operating a greenhouse in the harsh subarctic climate found in the northern parts of Sweden is not an easy task and especially if the operation is year-round. With an average temperature of under -5 °C from November through January, efficient growing techniques are a must to ensure a profitable business. Today the most crucial parts of a greenhouse are the heating system, lighting system, dehumidifying measures, as well as thermal screen, and the impact of a poorly designed system in a sub-arctic could be devastating as the margins are slim. The greenhouse studied uses a pellet burner to power their air- carried heating system which is used. The simulations found the resulting savings amounted to just under 14 800 SEK monthly or 18 % of the total cost of energy by implementing the water-carrying heating system in combination with the LED lamps. Given this, a payback period of 3-9 years could be expected given different scenarios, including specific time periods, financial aids, and the resale price of the current system. The insulation of the non-cultivating parts of the greenhouse was found to have possible savings of 25 300 SEK annually or 46 % of the current heat demand resulting in a payback period of just over 1-2 years. Given the possible energy savings, a reduction in emitted CO2 equivalents of almost 1,9 tonnes could be achieved annually. It was concluded that relatively inexpensive investments in modern greenhouse equipment could make a significant contribution to reducing the energy consumption of the greenhouse resulting in a more competitive business environment for sub-arctic greenhouse owners. New parts of the greenhouse should be built with the water-carried heating system in combination with state-of-the-art LED lights, and all parts which are not housing active cultivation should be insulated. If the greenhouse in Nikkala is eligible for financial aid or finds a resale value in the current system, an investment should be made in a new water-carried heating system in combination with LED lights.

Keywords: energy efficiency, sub-arctic greenhouses, energy measures, greenhouse climate control, greenhouse technology, CFD

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Authors: Ryan Chalk, G. M. Shafiullah

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Climate change is a pertinent issue facing governments and societies around the world. The industrial revolution has resulted in a steady increase in the average global temperature. The mining and energy production industries have been significant contributors to this change prompting government to intervene by promoting low emission technology within these sectors. This paper initially reviews the energy problem in Australia and the mining sector with a focus on the energy requirements and production methods utilised in Western Australia (WA). Renewable energy in the form of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) provides a solution to these problems by providing emission-free energy which can be used to supplement the existing natural gas turbines in operation at the proposed site. This research presents a custom renewable solution for the mining site considering the specific township network, local weather conditions, and seasonal load profiles. A summary of the required PV output is presented to supply slightly over 50% of the towns power requirements during the peak (summer) period, resulting in close to full coverage in the trench (winter) period. Dig Silent Power Factory Software has been used to simulate the characteristics of the existing infrastructure and produces results of integrating PV. Large scale PV penetration in the network introduce technical challenges, that includes; voltage deviation, increased harmonic distortion, increased available fault current and power factor. Results also show that cloud cover has a dramatic and unpredictable effect on the output of a PV system. The preliminary analyses conclude that mitigation strategies are needed to overcome voltage deviations, unacceptable levels of harmonics, excessive fault current and low power factor. Mitigation strategies are proposed to control these issues predominantly through the use of high quality, made for purpose inverters. Results show that use of inverters with harmonic filtering reduces the level of harmonic injections to an acceptable level according to Australian standards. Furthermore, the configuration of inverters to supply active and reactive power assist in mitigating low power factor problems. Use of FACTS devices; SVC and STATCOM also reduces the harmonics and improve the power factor of the network, and finally, energy storage helps to smooth the power supply.

Keywords: climate change, mitigation strategies, photovoltaic (PV), power quality

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Authors: M. Tassi, E. Dotsika, P. Karalis, A. Trantalidou, A. Mazarakis Ainian

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The Kythnos Island in Greece is of particular archaeological interest, as it has been inhabited from the 12th BC until the 7th AD. From island excavations, numerous faunal and human skeletal remains have been recovered. This work is the first attempt at the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the island via stable isotope analysis. Specifically, we perform 13C and 18O isotope analysis in faunal bone apatite in order to investigate the climate conditions that prevailed in the area. Additionally, we conduct 13C and 15N isotope analysis in faunal bone collagen, which will constitute the baseline for the subsequent diet reconstruction of the ancient Kythnos population.

Keywords: stable isotopes analysis, bone collagen stable isotope analysis, bone apatite stable isotope analysis, paleodiet, palaeoclimate

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Authors: Siddhartha Khare, Nitish Kr Boro, Omm Animesh Mishra

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Recent food price hikes may signal the end of an era of predictable global grain crop plenty due to climate change, population expansion, and dietary changes. Food consumption will treble in 20 years, requiring enormous production expenditures. Climate and the atmosphere changed owing to rainfall and seasonal cycles in the past decade. India's tropical agricultural relies on evapotranspiration and monsoons. In places with limited resources, the global environmental change affects agricultural productivity and farmers' capacity to adjust to changing moisture patterns. Motivated by these difficulties, satellite remote sensing might be combined with near-surface imaging data (smartphones, UAVs, and PhenoCams) to enable phenological monitoring and fast evaluations of field-level consequences of extreme weather events on smallholder agriculture output. To accomplish this technique, we must digitally map all communities agricultural boundaries and crop kinds. With the improvement of satellite remote sensing technologies, a geo-referenced database may be created for rural Indian agriculture fields. Using AI, we can design digital agricultural solutions for individual farms. Main objective is to Geo-enable each farm along with their seasonal crop information by combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) with satellite and near-surface data and then prepare long term crop monitoring through in-depth field analysis and scanning of fields with satellite derived vegetation indices. We developed an AI based algorithm to understand the timelapse based growth of vegetation using PhenoCam or Smartphone based images. We developed an android platform where user can collect images of their fields based on the android application. These images will be sent to our local server, and then further AI based processing will be done at our server. We are creating digital boundaries of individual farms and connecting these farms with our smart phone application to collect information about farmers and their crops in each season. We are extracting satellite-based information for each farm from Google earth engine APIs and merging this data with our data of tested crops from our app according to their farm’s locations and create a database which will provide the data of quality of crops from their location.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, satellite remote sensing, crop monitoring, android and web application

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Authors: Jacob Lewis Watts, Adam F. A. Pellegrini

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Prairies, grasslands, and forests cover an expansive portion of the world’s surface and contribute significantly to Earth’s carbon cycle. The largest driver of carbon dynamics in some of these ecosystems is fire. As the global climate changes, most fire-dominated ecosystems will experience increased fire frequency and intensity, leading to increased carbon flux into the atmosphere and soil nutrient depletion. The plant communities associated with different fire regimes are important for reassimilation of carbon lost during fire and soil recovery. More frequent fires promote conservative plant functional traits aboveground; however, belowground fine root traits are poorly explored and arguably more important drivers of ecosystem function as the primary interface between the soil and plant. The root economic spectrum (RES) hypothesis describes single-dimensional covariation between important fine-root traits along a range of plant strategies from acquisitive to conservative – parallel to the well-established leaf economic spectrum (LES). However, because of the paucity of root trait data, the complex nature of the rhizosphere, and the phylogenetic conservatism of root traits, it is unknown whether the RES hypothesis accurately describes plant nutrient and water acquisition strategies. This project utilizesplants grown in common garden conditions in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and a meta-analysis of long-term fire manipulation experiments to examine the belowground physiological traits of fire-adapted and non-fire-adapted herbaceous species to 1) test the RES hypothesis and 2) describe the effect of fire regimes on fine root functional traits – which in turn affect carbon and nutrient cycling. A suite of morphological, chemical, and biological root traits (e.g. root diameter, specific root length, percent N, percent mycorrhizal colonization, etc.) of 50 herbaceous species were measuredand tested for phylogenetic conservatism and RES dimensionality. Fire-adapted and non-fire-adapted plants traits were compared using phylogenetic PCA techniques. Preliminary evidence suggests that phylogenetic conservatism may weaken the single-dimensionality of the RES, suggesting that there may not be a single way that plants optimize nutrient and water acquisition and storage in the complex rhizosphere; additionally, fire-adapted species are expected to be more conservative than non-fire-adapted species, which may be indicative of slower carbon cycling with increasing fire frequency and intensity.

Keywords: climate change, fire regimes, root economic spectrum, fine roots

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Authors: R. Islam, Rafiqul A. Tarefder

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This study presents the moisture variations of unbound layers from April 2012 to January 2014 in the Interstate 40 (I-40) pavement section in New Mexico. Three moisture probes were installed at different layers inside the pavement which measure the continuous moisture variations of the pavement. Data show that the moisture contents of unbound layers are typically constant throughout the day and month unless there is rainfall. Moisture contents of all unbound layers change with rainfall. Change in ground water table may affect the moisture content of unbound layers which has not investigated in this study. In addition, the Level 3 predictions of moisture contents using the Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design software are compared and found quite reasonable. However, results presented in the current study may not be applicable for pavement in other regions.

Keywords: asphalt pavement, moisture probes, resilient modulus, climate model

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Authors: Cyril Agochi Okorowo

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More than ever human activity relating to uncontrolled greenhouse gas (GHG) and its effects on the earth is gaining greater attention in the global academic and policy discussions. Activities of man have greatly influenced climate change over the years as a result of a consistent increase in the use of fossil fuel energy. Scientists and researchers globally are making significant and devoted efforts towards the development and implementation of renewable energy technologies that are harmless to the environment. One of such energy is solar energy with its source from the sun. There are currently two primary ways of harvesting this energy from the sun: through photovoltaic (PV) panels and through thermal collectors. This work discusses solar energy as the abundant renewable energy in the tropical Nigeria, processes of harvesting the energy and recommends solar energy as an alternative means of electric power generation in a time the demand for power in Nigeria supersedes supply.

Keywords: analysis, energy, design, solar

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Authors: Prachi Desai, Ankita Gandhi, Mitali Acharya

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Rainfall forecast is mainly used for predictions of rainfall in a specified area and determining their future rainfall conditions. Rainfall is always a global issue as it affects all major aspects of one's life. Agricultural, fisheries, forestry, tourism industry and other industries are widely affected by these conditions. The studies have resulted in insufficient availability of water resources and an increase in water demand in the near future. We already have a new forecast system that uses the deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to forecast monthly rainfall and climate changes. We have also compared CNN against Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Machine Learning techniques that are used in rainfall predictions include ARIMA Model, ANN, LR, SVM etc. The dataset on which we are experimenting is gathered online over the year 1901 to 20118. Test results have suggested more realistic improvements than conventional rainfall forecasts.

Keywords: ANN, CNN, supervised learning, machine learning, deep learning

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Authors: Mohammad F. Fauzi, Nurul H. Shahba M. Shahrun, Nurul W. Hamzah, Mohd Noah A. Rahman, Afzaal H. Seyal

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In this paper, we proposed a simulation system using Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that will be distributed around the forest for early forest fire detection and to locate the areas affected. In Brunei Darussalam, approximately 78% of the nation is covered by forest. Since the forest is Brunei’s most precious natural assets, it is very important to protect and conserve our forest. The hot climate in Brunei Darussalam can lead to forest fires which can be a fatal threat to the preservation of our forest. The process consists of getting data from the sensors, analyzing the data and producing an alert. The key factors that we are going to analyze are the surrounding temperature, wind speed and wind direction, humidity of the air and soil.

Keywords: forest fire monitor, humidity, wind direction, wireless sensor network

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Authors: Okorowo Cyril Agochi

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More than ever human activity relating to uncontrolled greenhouse gas (GHG) and its effects on the earth is gaining greater attention in the global academic and policy discussions. Activities of man has greatly influenced climate change over the years as a result of consistent increase in the use of fossil fuel energy. Scientists and researchers globally are making significant and devoted efforts towards the development and implementation of renewable energy technologies that are harmless to the environment. One of such energy is solar energy with its source from the sun. There are currently two primary ways of harvesting this energy from the sun: through photovoltaic (PV) panels and through thermal collectors. This work discuses solar energy the abundant renewable energy in the tropical Nigeria, processes of harvesting and recommends same as an alternative means of electric power generation in a time the demand for power supersedes supply.

Keywords: electric, power, renewable energy, solar energy, sun, tropical

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Authors: Abhiram Siva Prasad Pamula

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Access to clean drinking water becomes scarce due to the increase in extreme weather events because of the rise in the average global temperatures and climate change. By 2030, approximately 47% of the world’s population will face water shortages due to uncertainty in seasonal rainfall. Over 10000 varieties of synthetic dyes are commercially available in the market and used by textile and paper industries, negatively impacting human health when ingested. Besides humans, textile dyes have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems by increasing biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. This study assesses different treatment methods that remove dyes from textile wastewater while focusing on energy, economic, and engineering aspects of the treatment processes.

Keywords: textile wastewater, dye removal, treatment methods, hazardous pollutants

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Authors: Benmessaoud Hassen

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The sensitivity to the desertification map of the south of Aurès region has been elaborated by the crossing of four thematic layers capable to have an impact on the process of desertification. The following step is inspired of MEDALUS (Mediterranean desertification and land Use), which use qualitative index to define the environment zones sensitive to the desertification. The cartographical information of vegetation, the climate, the soil and the socioeconomic state descended from cartographic data transformed to numerical data then seized on, structured and managed by an algorithm dedicated to a geographical information system. In step with information, each layer makes object of 3 or 4 classes, the geometrical median of the four layers used are leaded to sensitivity classes (ISD) of different mapped environment.

Keywords: information systems, thematic layers, the sensitivity to the desertification map, concept MEDALUS, South of Aurès

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Authors: Mariam Tsitsagi, Ana Berdzenishvili

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Rainfall intensity change is one of the main indicators of climate change. It has a great influence on agriculture as one of the main factors causing soil erosion. Splash and sheet erosion are one of the most prevalence and harmful for agriculture. It is invisible for an eye at first stage, but the process will gradually move to stream cutting erosion. Our study provides the assessment of rainfall erosivity potential with the use of modern research methods in Kakheti region. The region is the major provider of wheat and wine in the country. Kakheti is located in the eastern part of Georgia and characterized quite a variety of natural conditions. The climate is dry subtropical. For assessment of the exact rate of rainfall erosion potential several year data of rainfall with short intervals are needed. Unfortunately, from 250 active metro stations running during the Soviet period only 55 of them are active now and 5 stations in Kakheti region respectively. Since 1936 we had data on rainfall intensity in this region, and rainfall erosive potential is assessed, in some old papers, but since 1990 we have no data about this factor, which in turn is a necessary parameter for determining the rainfall erosivity potential. On the other hand, researchers and local communities suppose that rainfall intensity has been changing and the number of haily days has also been increasing. However, finding a method that will allow us to determine rainfall erosivity potential as accurate as possible in Kakheti region is very important. The study period was divided into three sections: 1936-1963; 1963-1990 and 1990-2015. Rainfall erosivity potential was determined by the scientific literature and old meteorological stations’ data for the first two periods. And it is known that in eastern Georgia, at the boundary between steppe and forest zones, rainfall erosivity in 1963-1990 was 20-75% higher than that in 1936-1963. As for the third period (1990-2015), for which we do not have data of rainfall intensity. There are a variety of studies, where alternative ways of calculating the rainfall erosivity potential based on lack of data are discussed e.g.based on daily rainfall data, average annual rainfall data and the elevation of the area, etc. It should be noted that these methods give us a totally different results in case of different climatic conditions and sometimes huge errors in some cases. Three of the most common methods were selected for our research. Each of them was tested for the first two sections of the study period. According to the outcomes more suitable method for regional climatic conditions was selected, and after that, we determined rainfall erosivity potential for the third section of our study period with use of the most successful method. Outcome data like attribute tables and graphs was specially linked to the database of Kakheti, and appropriate thematic maps were created. The results allowed us to analyze the rainfall erosivity potential changes from 1936 to the present and make the future prospect. We have successfully implemented a method which can also be use for some another region of Georgia.

Keywords: erosivity potential, Georgia, GIS, Kakheti, rainfall

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Authors: Sara Bouzekri, Said Madani

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In many Mediterranean cities such as Algiers, the human activity, the strong mobility the urban sprawl, the air pollution, the problems of waste management, the wasting of the resources and the degradation of the environment weaken in an unquestionable way the farming. The question of sustainable action vis-a-vis these threats arises then in order to maintain a level of desired local development. The methodology is based on a multi-criteria method based on the AFOM diagnosis, which classifies agricultural strength indicators and those of threat, according to an analytical approach. In a sustainable development perspective, it will be appropriate to link the threat factors of the case study with the factors of climate change to see their impact on the future of agriculture. This will be accompanied by a SWOT analysis, which crosses the most significant criteria to arrive at the necessary recommendations based on future projects for urban agriculture.

Keywords: Algiers, environment, urban agriculture, threat factors

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Authors: John Christian Lequiron, Gerry Bagtasa, Olivia Cabrera, Leoncio Amadore, Tolentino Moya

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Changes in air surface temperature play an important role in the Philippine’s economy, industry, health, and food production. While increasing global mean temperature in the recent several decades has prompted a number of climate change and variability studies in the Philippines, most studies still focus on rainfall and tropical cyclones. This study aims to investigate the trend and variability of observed air surface temperature and determine its major influencing factor/s in the Philippines. A non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test was applied to monthly mean temperature of 17 synoptic stations covering 56 years from 1960 to 2015 and a mean change of 0.58 °C or a positive trend of 0.0105 °C/year (p < 0.05) was found. In addition, wavelet decomposition was used to determine the frequency of temperature variability show a 12-month, 30-80-month and more than 120-month cycles. This indicates strong annual variations, interannual variations that coincide with ENSO events, and interdecadal variations that are attributed to PDO and CO2 concentrations. Air surface temperature was also correlated with smoothed sunspot number and galactic cosmic rays, the results show a low to no effect. The influence of ENSO teleconnection on temperature, wind pattern, cloud cover, and outgoing longwave radiation on different ENSO phases had significant effects on regional temperature variability. Particularly, an anomalous anticyclonic (cyclonic) flow east of the Philippines during the peak and decay phase of El Niño (La Niña) events leads to the advection of warm southeasterly (cold northeasterly) air mass over the country. Furthermore, an apparent increasing cloud cover trend is observed over the West Philippine Sea including portions of the Philippines, and this is believed to lessen the effect of the increasing air surface temperature. However, relative humidity was also found to be increasing especially on the central part of the country, which results in a high positive trend of heat index, exacerbating the effects on human discomfort. Finally, an assessment of gridded temperature datasets was done to look at the viability of using three high-resolution datasets in future climate analysis and model calibration and verification. Several error statistics (i.e. Pearson correlation, Bias, MAE, and RMSE) were used for this validation. Results show that gridded temperature datasets generally follows the observed surface temperature change and anomalies. In addition, it is more representative of regional temperature rather than a substitute to station-observed air temperature.

Keywords: air surface temperature, carbon dioxide, ENSO, galactic cosmic rays, smoothed sunspot number

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Authors: Mohammad Idrees Yusofzai, Hirobata Yasuhiro, Matsuo Kojiro

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Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan. It is the focal point of educational, industrial, etc. of Afghanistan. Additionally, the population of Kabul has grown recently and will increase because of return of refugees and shifting of people from other province to Kabul city. However, this increase in population, the issues of urban congestion and other related problems of urban transportation in Kabul city arises. One of the problems is public transport (large buses) service and needs to be modified and enhanced especially large bus routes that are operating in each zone of the 22 zone of Kabul City. To achieve the above mentioned goal of improving public transport, Spatial Accessibility Analysis is one of the important attributes to assess the effectiveness of transportation system and urban transport policy of a city, because accessibility indicator as an alternative tool to support public policy that aims the reinforcement of sustainable urban space. The case study of this research compares the present model (present bus route) and the modified model of public transport. Furthermore, present model, the bus routes in most of the zones are active, however, with having low frequency and unpublished schedule, and accessibility result is analyzed in four cases, based on the variables of accessibility. Whereas in modified model all zones in Kabul is taken into consideration with having specified origin and high frequency. Indeed the number of frequencies is kept high; however, this number is based on the number of buses Millie Bus Enterprise Authority (MBEA) owns. The same approach of cases is applied in modified model to figure out the best accessibility for the modified model. Indeed, the modified model is having a positive impact in congestion level in Kabul city. Besides, analyses of person trip and trip distribution have been also analyzed because how people move in the study area by each mode of transportation. So, the general aims of this research are to assess the present movement of people, identify zones in need of public transport and assess equity level of accessibility in Kabul city. The framework of methodology used in this research is based on gravity analysis model of accessibility; besides, generalized cost (time) of travel and travel mode is calculated. The main data come from person trip survey, socio-economic characteristics, demographic data by Japan International Cooperation Agency, 2008, study of Kabul city and also from the previous researches on travel pattern and the remaining data regarding present bus line and routes have been from MBEA. In conclusion, this research explores zones where public transport accessibility level is high and where it is low. It was found that both models the downtown area or central zones of Kabul city is having high level accessibility. Besides, the present model is the most unfavorable compared with the modified model based on the accessibility analysis.

Keywords: accessibility, bus generalized cost, gravity model, public transportation network

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Authors: Johannes Gantner, Michael Held, Rafael Horn, Matthias Fischer

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At the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015 a global agreement on the reduction of climate change was achieved stating CO₂ reduction targets for all countries. For instance, the EU targets a reduction of 40 percent in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the environmental performance of the different European electricity grid mixes is crucial. First, the electricity directly needed for everyone’s daily life (e.g. heating, plug load, mobility) and therefore a reduction of the environmental impacts of the electricity grid mix reduces the overall environmental impacts of a country. Secondly, the manufacturing of every product depends on electricity. Thereby a reduction of the environmental impacts of the electricity mix results in a further decrease of environmental impacts of every product. As a result, the implementation of the two-degree goal highly depends on the decarbonization of the European electricity mixes. Currently the production of electricity in the EU27 is based on fossil fuels and therefore bears a high GWP impact per kWh. Due to the importance of the environmental impacts of the electricity mix, not only today but also in future, within the European research projects, CommONEnergy and Senskin, time-dynamic Life Cycle Assessment models for all EU27 countries were set up. As a methodology, a combination of scenario modeling and life cycle assessment according to ISO14040 and ISO14044 was conducted. Based on EU27 trends regarding energy, transport, and buildings, the different national electricity mixes were investigated taking into account future changes such as amount of electricity generated in the country, change in electricity carriers, COP of the power plants and distribution losses, imports and exports. As results, time-dynamic environmental profiles for the electricity mixes of each country and for Europe overall were set up. Thereby for each European country, the decarbonization strategies of the electricity mix are critically investigated in order to identify decisions, that can lead to negative environmental effects, for instance on the reduction of the global warming of the electricity mix. For example, the withdrawal of the nuclear energy program in Germany and at the same time compensation of the missing energy by non-renewable energy carriers like lignite and natural gas is resulting in an increase in global warming potential of electricity grid mix. Just after two years this increase countervailed by the higher share of renewable energy carriers such as wind power and photovoltaic. Finally, as an outlook a first qualitative picture is provided, illustrating from environmental perspective, which country has the highest potential for low-carbon electricity production and therefore how investments in a connected European electricity grid could decrease the environmental impacts of the electricity mix in Europe.

Keywords: electricity grid mixes, EU27 countries, environmental impacts, future trends, life cycle assessment, scenario analysis

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Authors: El Hadji Mamadou Sonko, Mbaye Mbéguéré, Cheikh Diop, Linda Strande

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In new approaches that are being developed for the treatment of sludge, the valorization of by-product is increasingly encouraged. In this perspective, Echinochloa pyramidalis has been successfully tested in Cameroon. Echinochloa pyramidalis is an efficient forage plant in the treatment of faecal sludge. It provides high removal rates and biosolids of high agronomic value. Thus in order to advise the use of this plant in planted drying beds in Senegal its comparison with the plants long been used in the field deserves to be carried out. That is the aim of this study showing the influence of the nature of the plants on the drainage, the purifying performances and the quality of the biosolids. Echinochloa pyramidalis, Typha australis, and Phragmites australis are the three macrophytes used in this study. The drainage properties of the beds were monitored through the frequency of clogging, the percentage of recovered leachate and the dryness of the accumulated sludge. The development of plants was followed through the measurement of the density. The purification performances were evaluated from the incoming raw sludge flows and the outflows of leachate for parameters such as Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Volatile Solids (TVS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Ammonia (NH₄⁺), Nitrate (NO₃⁻), Total Phosphorus (TP), Orthophosphorus (PO₄³⁻) and Ascaris eggs. The quality of the biosolids accumulated on the beds was measured after 3 months of maturation for parameters such as dryness, C/N ratio NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ ratio, ammonia, Ascaris eggs. The results have shown that the recovered leachate volume is about 40.4%; 45.6% and 47.3%; the dryness about 41.7%; 38.7% and 28.7%, and clogging frequencies about 6.7%; 8.2% and 14.2% on average for the beds planted with Echinochloa pyramidalis, Typha australis and Phragmites australis respectively. The plants of Echinochloa pyramidalis (198.6 plants/m²) and Phragmites australis (138 plants/m²) have higher densities than Typha australis (90.3 plants/m²). The nature of the plants has no influence on the purification performance with reduction percentages around 80% or more for all the parameters followed whatever the nature of the plants. However, the concentrations of these various leachate pollutants are above the limit values of the Senegalese standard NS 05-061 for the release into the environment. The biosolids harvested after 3 months of maturation are all mature with C/N ratios around 10 for all the macrophytes. The NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ ratio is lower than 1 except for the biosolids originating from the Echinochloa pyramidalis beds. The ammonia is also less than 0.4 g/kg except for biosolids from Typha australis beds. Biosolids are also rich in mineral elements. Their concentrations of Ascaris eggs are higher than the WHO recommendations despite a percentage of inactivation around 80%. These biosolids must be stored for an additional time or composted. From these results, the use of Echinochloa pyramidalis as the main macrophyte can be recommended in the various drying beds planted in sub-Saharan climate conditions.

Keywords: faecal sludge, nature of plants, quality of biosolids, treatment performances

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Authors: A. Marolleau, F. Salaun, D. Dupont, H. Gidik, S. Ducept.

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The goal of this study is to analyze the hydric behaviour of textiles which can impact significantly the comfort of the wearer. Indeed, fabrics can be adapted for different climate if hydric and thermal behaviors are known. In this study, fabrics are only submitted to hydric variations. Sorption and desorption isotherms obtained from the dynamic vapour sorption apparatus (DVS) are fitted with the parallel exponential kinetics (PEK), the Hailwood-Horrobin (HH) and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) models. One of the major finding is the relationship existing between PEK and HH models. During slow and fast processes, the sorption of water molecules on the polymer can be in monolayer and multilayer form. According to the BET model, moisture regain, a physical property of textiles, show a linear correlation with the total amount of water taken in monolayer. This study provides potential information of the end uses of these fabrics according to the selected activity level.

Keywords: comfort, hydric properties, modelling, underwears

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Authors: Kuo-Wei Liao, Jessica Gitomarsono

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Bridge reliability against natural hazards such as floods or earthquakes is an interdisciplinary problem that involves a wide range of knowledge. Moreover, due to the global climate change, engineers have to design a structure against the multi-hazard threats. Currently, few of the practical design guideline has included such concept. The bridge foundation in Taiwan often does not have a uniform width. However, few of the researches have focused on safety evaluation of a bridge with a complex pier. Investigation of the scouring depth under such situation is very important. Thus, this study first focuses on investigating and improving the scour prediction formula for a bridge with complicated foundation via experiments and artificial intelligence. Secondly, a probabilistic design procedure is proposed using the established prediction formula for practical engineers under the multi-hazard attacks.

Keywords: bridge, reliability, multi-hazards, scour

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Jeong-Min Son, Jeong-Hee Eum, Jin-Kyu Min, Uk-Je Sung, Ju-Eun Kim

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While various environmental problems are severe due to climate change, especially in cities where population and development are concentrated, urban thermal environment problems such as heat waves and tropical nights are particularly worsening. Accordingly, the Korean government provides basic data related to the urban thermal environment to support each local government in effectively establishing policies to cope with heat waves. However, the basic data related to the thermal environment provided by the government has limitations in establishing a regional thermal adaptation plan with a minimum unit of cities, counties, and districts. In addition, the urban heat environment perceived by people differs in each region and space. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare practical measures that can be used to establish regional-based policies for heat wave adaptation by identifying people’s heat perception in the entire city. This study aims to develop a mobile phone application (APP) to gather people’s thermal sensation information and create Korea’s first thermal map based on this information. In addition, through this APP, citizens directly propose thermal adaptation policies, and urban planners and policymakers accept citizens' opinions, so this study provides a tool to solve local thermal environment problems. To achieve this purpose, first, the composition and contents of the app were discussed by examining various existing apps and cases for citizen participation and collection of heat information. In addition, factors affecting human thermal comfort, such as spatial, meteorological, and demographic factors, were investigated to construct the APP system. Based on these results, the basic version of the APP was developed. Second, the living lab methodology was adopted to gather people’s heat perception using the developed app to conduct overall evaluation and feedback of people on the APP. The people participating in the living lab were selected as those living in Daegu Metropolitan City, which is located in South Korea and annually records high temperatures. The user interface was improved through the living lab to make the app easier to use and the thermal map was modified. This study expects to establish high-resolution thermal maps for effective policies and measures and to solve local thermal environmental problems using the APP. The collected information can be used to evaluate spatial, meteorological, and demographic characteristics that affect the perceived heat of citizens. In addition, it is expected that the research can be expanded by gathering thermal information perceived by citizens of foreign cities as well as other cities in South Korea through the APP developed in this study.

Keywords: mobile application, living lab, thermal map, climate change adaptation

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Authors: Joanna Gerszon, Aleksandra Rodacka

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In the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, protein and peptide aggregation processes play a vital role in contributing to the formation of intracellular and extracellular protein deposits. One of the major components of these deposits is the oxidatively modified glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to answer the question whether piceatannol, a stilbene derivative, counteracts and/or slows down oxidative stress-induced GAPDH aggregation. The study also aimed to determine if this natural occurring compound prevents unfavorable nuclear translocation of GAPDH in hippocampal cells. The isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) analysis indicated that one molecule of GAPDH can bind up to 8 molecules of piceatannol (7.3 ± 0.9). As a consequence of piceatannol binding to the enzyme, the loss of activity was observed. Parallel with GAPDH inactivation the changes in zeta potential, and loss of free thiol groups were noted. Nevertheless, the ligand-protein binding does not influence the secondary structure of the GAPDH. Precise molecular docking analysis of the interactions inside the active center allowed to presume that these effects are due to piceatannol ability to assemble a covalent binding with nucleophilic cysteine residue (Cys149) which is directly involved in the catalytic reaction. Molecular docking also showed that simultaneously 11 molecules of ligand can be bound to dehydrogenase. Taking into consideration obtained data, the influence of piceatannol on level of GAPDH aggregation induced by excessive oxidative stress was examined. The applied methods (thioflavin-T binding-dependent fluorescence as well as microscopy methods - transmission electron microscopy, Congo Red staining) revealed that piceatannol significantly diminishes level of GAPDH aggregation. Finally, studies involving cellular model (Western blot analyses of nuclear and cytosolic fractions and confocal microscopy) indicated that piceatannol-GAPDH binding prevents GAPDH from nuclear translocation induced by excessive oxidative stress in hippocampal cells. In consequence, it counteracts cell apoptosis. These studies demonstrate that by binding with GAPDH, piceatannol blocks cysteine residue and counteracts its oxidative modifications, that induce oligomerization and GAPDH aggregation as well as it prevents hippocampal cells from apoptosis by retaining GAPDH in the cytoplasm. All these findings provide a new insight into the role of piceatannol interaction with GAPDH and present a potential therapeutic strategy for some neurological disorders related to GAPDH aggregation. This work was supported by the by National Science Centre, Poland (grant number 2017/25/N/NZ1/02849).

Keywords: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, neurodegenerative disease, neuroprotection, piceatannol, protein aggregation

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Authors: Rajendra Kumar Isaac, Monisha Isaac

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India, having a vast cultivable area and regional climatic variability, encounters water Resource Management Problems at various levels. The agricultural production of India needs to be increased to meet out projected population growth. Sustainable water resource is the only option to ensure food security, especially in northern Indian states, where the ground and surface water resources are fast depleting. Various tools and technologies available for management of scarce water resources have been discussed. It was concluded that multiple use of water, adopting latest water management options, identification of climate adoptable cropping and farming systems, can enhance water productivity and would encounter the fast growing water management and water shortage problems in Indian agriculture.

Keywords: water resource management, sustainable, water management technologies, water productivity, agriculture

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Authors: İsmail İnce, Mustafa Fener

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Natural stones used as building materials are exposed to various direct or indirect atmospheric effects depending on the climatic and seasonal conditions. Stones deteriorate partially or fully as a result of these effects. Freezing and thawing (F-T) process is the most important interaction. Nevşehir is located in the Central Anatolia region in Turkey and it has a typical continental climate with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Effects of freeze-thaw processes were widely observed on the building stones used in the region. Pyroclastic rocks, which are named as Nevşehir stone in the region, have been used in most of these buildings. The purpose of this study is to investigate the variations in engineering and textural properties of Nevşehir stone during different F-T cycles.

Keywords: Nevşehir stone, freeze-thaw, engineering properties, textural properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 980