Abstract: The geographical location of Bangladesh makes it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate-induced phenomena mainly affect the south-central region of Bangladesh (Laxmipur district) where they have begun to occur more frequently. The aim of the study was to identify the hydro-climatic factors that lead to weather-related disasters in the coastal areas and analyse the consequences of these factors on coastal livelihoods, with possible adaptation options using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools. The present study showed several disasters such as land erosion, depressions and cyclones, coastal flooding, storm surge, and precipitation. The frequency of these disasters is of a noticeable rate. Surveys have also discovered that land erosion is ongoing. Tidal water is being introduced directly into the mainland, and as a result of the salt intrusion, production capacity is declining. The coastal belt is an important area for fishing activities, but due to changed fishing times and a lack of Alternative Income Generating Activities (AIGAs), people have been forced to search for alternative livelihood options by taking both short-term and long-term adaptation options. Therefore, in order to increase awareness and minimize the losses, vulnerable communities must be fully incorporated into disaster response strategies. The government as well as national and international donor organizations should come forward and resolve the present situation of these vulnerable groups since otherwise, they will have to endure endless and miserable suffering due to the effects of climate change ahead in their lives.
Abstract: Plant ecological stoichiometry, which is one of the most important tools to connect the components among different levels of ecosystem, has obtained increasingly extensive concern, especially on its responses to the environmental gradients. Based on the published literatures and datasets, this article focused on reviewing the variable responses of plant foliar ecological stoichiometry to the climatic factors, such as temperature, water, elevated CO2, and found that foliar ecological stoichiometry responded dynamically to climatic variations among different regions and different growth forms. Then, research status and deficiency were summarized and the expectation on studying the relationships between plant C, N and P ecological stoichiometry and environmental variations which can provide a reference to understand how plants will respond to global change in the future was pointed out.
Abstract: Campus buildings are educational facilities where various amount of energy consumption for lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation occurs. Some of the new universities in Turkey, where this investigation takes place, still continue their educational activities in existing buildings primarily designed for different architectural programs and converted to campus buildings via changes of function, space organizations and structural interventions but most of the time without consideration of appropriate micro climatic conditions. Reducing energy consumption in these structures not only contributes to the national economy but also mitigates the negative effects on environment. Furthermore, optimum thermal comfort conditions should be provided during the refurbishment of existing campus structures and their building envelope. Considering this issue, the first step is to investigate the climatic performance of building elements regarding refurbishment process. In the context of the study Kocaeli University, Faculty of Design and Architecture building constructed in 1980s in Anıtpark campus located in the central part of Kocaeli, Turkey was investigated. Climatic factors influencing thermal conditions; the deteriorations on building envelope; temperature distribution; heat losses from façade elements observed by thermography were presented in order to improve strategies for retrofit process for the building envelope. Within the scope of the survey, refurbishment strategies towards providing optimum climatic comfort conditions, increasing energy efficiency of building envelope were proposed.
Abstract: Studying on the response of vegetation phenology to
climate change at different temporal and spatial scales is important for
understanding and predicting future terrestrial ecosystem dynamics
and the adaptation of ecosystems to global change. In this study, the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset and climate
data were used to analyze the dynamics of grassland phenology as well
as their correlation with climatic factors in different eco-geographic
regions and elevation units across the Tibetan Plateau. The results
showed that during 2003–2012, the start of the grassland greening
season (SOS) appeared later while the end of the growing season
(EOS) appeared earlier following the plateau’s precipitation and heat
gradients from southeast to northwest. The multi-year mean value of
SOS showed differences between various eco-geographic regions and
was significantly impacted by average elevation and regional average
precipitation during spring. Regional mean differences for EOS were
mainly regulated by mean temperature during autumn. Changes in
trends of SOS in the central and eastern eco-geographic regions were
coupled to the mean temperature during spring, advancing by about
7d/°C. However, in the two southwestern eco-geographic regions,
SOS was delayed significantly due to the impact of spring
precipitation. The results also showed that the SOS occurred later with
increasing elevation, as expected, with a delay rate of 0.66 d/100m.
For 2003–2012, SOS showed an advancing trend in low-elevation
areas, but a delayed trend in high-elevation areas, while EOS was
delayed in low-elevation areas, but advanced in high-elevation areas.
Grassland SOS and EOS changes may be influenced by a variety of
other environmental factors in each eco-geographic region.
Abstract: Oases are complex and fragile agro-ecosystems. They
have always existed in environments characterized by an arid climate,
scarcity of rainfall, high temperatures and high evaporation. These
palms have grown up despite the severity of the physical
characteristics thanks to the water's existence and irrigation practice.
The oases are generally spread along non-perennial rivers (wadis),
shallow water table or deep artesian groundwater. However, the
sustainability of oasis system is threatened by water scarcity and
declining of water table levels particularly in arid areas. Located in
the southern east area of Morocco, Tafilalet plain encompasses one of
the largest palm groves in the kingdom. In recent years, this area has
become increasingly threatened by water shortage and has seen a
sharp deterioration under the effect of several combined
anthropogenic and climatic factors. The Bayoud disease, successive
years of drought, Hassan Addakhil dam construction etc are all
factors that have affected both water and phoenicicole heritage of the
area. The objective of this study is to understand the interaction
between qualitative and quantitative degradation of groundwater
resources, and the palm grove dynamics, while reviewing the
assumption that groundwater resources contribute in a direct way to
the conservation of this oasis agroecosystem. A historical analysis
tracing both the oasis dynamics and the groundwater evolution has
been established. Data were collected from satellite images, surveys
with different actors (farmers, Regional Office for Agricultural
Development, Basin agency...). They were complemented by a
synthesis of numerous technical reports in the area. The results
showed that within 40 years, the thickness of the groundwater table
has dropped in 50 %. Along with this, there has been a downsizing of
date palm by 50 %. Areas with higher groundwater level were the
least affected by the downsizing. So we can say that the shallow
groundwater contribute significantly and directly to the water supply
of date palm through its root system, and largely ensures the oasis
ecosystem sustainability.
Abstract: Hybrid selection and the application of hybrid specific production technologies are important in terms of the increase of the yield and crop safety of maize. The main explanation for this is climate change, since weather extremes are going on and seem to accelerate in Hungary too.
The biological bases, the selection of appropriate hybrids will be of greater importance in the future. The issue of the adaptability of hybrids will be considerably appreciated. Its good agronomical traits and stress bearing against climatic factors and agrotechnical elements (e.g. different types of herbicides) will be important. There have been examples of 3-4 consecutive droughty years in the past decades, e.g. 1992-1993-1994 or 2009-2011-2012, which made the results of crop production critical. Irrigation cannot be the solution for the problem since currently only the 2% of the arable land is irrigated. Temperatures exceeding the multi-year average are characteristic mainly to the July and August in Hungary, which significantly increase the soil surface evaporation, thus further enhance water shortage. In terms of the yield and crop safety of maize, the weather of these two months is crucial, since the extreme high temperature in July decreases the viability of the pollen and the pistil of maize, decreases the extent of fertilization and makes grain-filling tardy. Consequently, yield and crop safety decrease.
Abstract: The focus in this work is to assess which method
allows a better forecasting of malaria cases in Bujumbura ( Burundi)
when taking into account association between climatic factors and
the disease. For the period 1996-2007, real monthly data on both
malaria epidemiology and climate in Bujumbura are described and
analyzed. We propose a hierarchical approach to achieve our
objective. We first fit a Generalized Additive Model to malaria cases
to obtain an accurate predictor, which is then used to predict future
observations. Various well-known forecasting methods are compared
leading to different results. Based on in-sample mean average
percentage error (MAPE), the multiplicative exponential smoothing
state space model with multiplicative error and seasonality performed
better.
Abstract: Iran has diverse climates and each have established distinct properties in their area. The extent and intensity of climatic factors effects on the lives of people living in various regions of Iran is so great that it cannot be simply ignored. In a large part of Iran known as the Central Plateau there is no precipitation for more than half of the year and dry weather and scarcity of fresh water pose an ever present problem for the people of these regions while in north of Iran upon the southern shores of the Caspian Sea the people face 80% humidity caused by the sea and 2 meters of annual precipitation. This article tries to review the past experiences of local architecture of Iran-s various regions so that they can be used to reshape and redirect the urban areas and structure of Iran-s current cities to provide environmental comfort by minimum use of fossil fuels.
Abstract: This study investigated the climatic factors associated
with Influenza incidence in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Southern
Thailand. Climatic factors comprised of the amount of rainfall,
percent of rainy days, relative humidity, wind speed, maximum,
minimum temperatures and temperature difference. A multiple
stepwise regression technique was used to fit the statistical model.
The result showed that the temperature difference and percent of
rainy days were positively associated with Influenza incidence in
Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Abstract: This study examined a habitat-suitability assessment method namely the Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA). A virtual species was created and then dispatched in a geographic information system model of a real landscape in three historic scenarios: (1) spreading, (2) equilibrium, and (3) overabundance. In each scenario, the virtual species was sampled and these simulated data sets were used as inputs for the ENFA to reconstruct the habitat suitability model. The 'equilibrium' scenario gives the highest quantity and quality among three scenarios. ENFA was sensitive to the distribution scenarios but not sensitive to sample sizes. The use of a virtual species proved to be a very efficient method, allowing one to fully control the quality of the input data as well as to accurately evaluate the predictive power of the analyses.
Abstract: Historical monuments as architectural heritage are,
economically and culturally, considered one of the key aspects for
modern communities. Cultural heritage represents a country-s
national identity and pride and maintains and enriches that country-s
culture. Therefore, conservation of the monuments remained from
our ancestors requires everybody-s serious and unremitting effort.
Conservation, renewal, restoration, and technical study of cultural
and historical matters are issues which have a special status among
various forms of art and science in the present century and this is due
to two reasons: firstly, progress of humankind in this century has
created a factor called environmental pollution which not only has
caused new destructive processes of cultural/historical monuments
but also has accelerated the previous destructive processes by several
times, and secondly, the rapid advance of various sciences, especially
chemistry, has lead to the contribution of new methods and materials
to this significant issue.
Abstract: Dengue fever has become a major concern for health
authorities all over the world particularly in the tropical countries.
These countries, in particular are experiencing the most worrying
outbreak of dengue fever (DF) and dengue haemorrhagic fever
(DHF). The DF and DHF epidemics, thus, have become the main
causes of hospital admissions and deaths in Malaysia. This paper,
therefore, attempts to examine the environmental factors that may
influence the recent dengue outbreak. The aim of this study is twofold,
firstly is to establish a statistical model to describe the
relationship between the number of dengue cases and a range of
explanatory variables and secondly, to identify the lag operator for
explanatory variables which affect the dengue incidence the most.
The explanatory variables involved include the level of cloud cover,
percentage of relative humidity, amount of rainfall, maximum
temperature, minimum temperature and wind speed. The Poisson and
Negative Binomial regression analyses were used in this study. The
results of the analyses on the 915 observations (daily data taken from
July 2006 to Dec 2008), reveal that the climatic factors comprising of
daily temperature and wind speed were found to significantly
influence the incidence of dengue fever after 2 and 3 weeks of their
occurrences. The effect of humidity, on the other hand, appears to be
significant only after 2 weeks.
Abstract: The UK Government has emphasized the role of Local Authorities as a key player in its flagship residential energy efficiency strategies, by identifying and targeting areas for energy efficiency improvements. Residential energy consumption in England is characterized by significant geographical variation in energy demand, which makes centralized targeting of areas for energy efficiency intervention difficult. This paper draws on research which aims to understand how demographic, social, economic, urban form and climatic factors influence the geographical variations in English residential gas consumption. The paper reports the findings of a multiple regression model that shows how 64% of the geographical variation in residential gas consumption is accounted for by variations in these factors. Results from this study, after further refinement and validation, can be used by Local Authorities to identify areas within their boundaries that have higher than expected gas consumption, these may be prime targets for energy efficiency initiatives.
Abstract: This study investigated climatic factors associated
with influenza cases in Southern Thailand. The main aim for use
regression analysis to investigate possible causual relationship of
climatic factors and variability between the border of the Andaman
Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Southern Thailand had the highest
Influenza incidences among four regions (i.e. north, northeast, central
and southern Thailand). In this study, there were 14 climatic factors:
mean relative humidity, maximum relative humidity, minimum
relative humidity, rainfall, rainy days, daily maximum rainfall,
pressure, maximum wind speed, mean wind speed, sunshine duration,
mean temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature,
and temperature difference (i.e. maximum – minimum temperature).
Multiple stepwise regression technique was used to fit the statistical
model. The results indicated that the mean wind speed and the
minimum relative humidity were positively associated with the
number of influenza cases on the Andaman Sea side. The maximum
wind speed was positively associated with the number of influenza
cases on the Gulf of Thailand side.
Abstract: This study investigated the number of Aedes larvae,
the key breeding sites of Aedes sp., and the relationship between
climatic factors and the incidence of DHF in Samui Islands. We
conducted our questionnaire and larval surveys from randomly
selected 105 households in Samui Islands in July-September 2006.
Pearson-s correlation coefficient was used to explore the primary
association between the DHF incidence and all climatic factors.
Multiple stepwise regression technique was then used to fit the
statistical model. The results showed that the positive indoor
containers were small jars, cement tanks, and plastic tanks. The
positive outdoor containers were small jars, cement tanks, plastic
tanks, used cans, tires, plastic bottles, discarded objects, pot saucers,
plant pots, and areca husks. All Ae. albopictus larval indices (i.e., CI,
HI, and BI) were higher than Ae. aegypti larval indices in this area.
These larval indices were higher than WHO standard. This indicated
a high risk of DHF transmission at Samui Islands. The multiple
stepwise regression model was y = –288.80 + 11.024xmean temp. The
mean temperature was positively associated with the DHF incidence
in this area.