The effect of global warming on mortality     

Jean Calleja-Agius  Kathleen England  Neville Calleja 《Chemie der Erde / Geochemistry》2012

There is a significant relationship between ambient temperature and mortality. In healthy individuals with no underlying co-morbid conditions, there is an efficient heat regulation system which enables the body to effectively handle thermal stress. However, in vulnerable groups, especially in elderly over the age of 65 years, infants and individuals with co-morbid cardiovascular and/or respiratory conditions, there is a deficiency in thermoregulation. When temperatures exceed a certain limit, being cold winter spells or heat waves, there is an increase in the number of deaths. In particular, it has been shown that at temperatures above 27 °C, the daily mortality rate increases more rapidly per degree rise compared to when it drops below 27 °C.This is especially of relevance with the current emergency of global warming. Besides the direct effect of temperature rises on human health, global warming will have a negative impact on primary producers and livestock, leading to malnutrition, which will in turn lead to a myriad of health related issues. This is further exacerbated by environmental pollution.Public health measures that countries should follow should include not only health-related information strategies aiming to reduce the exposure to heat for vulnerable individuals and the community, but improved urban planning and reduction in energy consumption, among many others. This will reduce the carbon footprint and help avert global warming, thus reducing mortality.  相似文献   

Modeling Alternative Sequences of Events in Dynamic Geographic Domains     

Shane Hubbard  Kathleen Stewart Hornsby 《Transactions in GIS》2011,15(5):557-575

A model that emphasizes possible alternative sequences of events that occur over time is presented in this article. Representing alternative or branching events captures additional semantics unrealized by linear or non‐branching approaches. Two basic elements of branching, divergence and convergence are discussed. From these elements, many complex branching models can be built capturing a perspective of events that will take place in the future or have occurred in the past. This produces likely sequences of events that a user may compare and analyze using spatial or temporal criteria. The branching events model is especially useful for spatiotemporal decision support systems, as decision‐makers are able to identify alternative locations and times of events and, depending on the context, also identify regions of multiple possible events. A branching events viewer application is presented illustrating a case study based on a tornado response.  相似文献   

Retrospective and prospective model simulations of sea level rise impacts on Gulf of Mexico coastal marshes and forests in Waccasassa Bay, Florida   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Laura Geselbracht  Kathleen Freeman  Eugene Kelly  Doria R. Gordon  Francis E. Putz 《Climatic change》2011,107(1-2):35-57

The State of Florida (USA) is especially threatened by sea level rise due to extensive low elevation coastal habitats (approximately 8,000?km²?<?1?m above sea level) where the majority of the human population resides. We used the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) simulation to improve understanding of the magnitude and location of these changes for 58,000?ha of the Waccasassa Bay region of Florida??s central Gulf of Mexico coast. To assess how well SLAMM portrays changes in coastal wetland systems resulting from sea level rise, we conducted a hindcast in which we compared model results to 30?years of field plot data. Overall, the model showed the same pattern of coastal forest loss as observed. Prospective runs of SLAMM using 0.64?m, 1?m and 2?m sea level rise scenarios predict substantial changes over this century in the area covered by coastal wetland systems including net losses of coastal forests (69%, 83%, and 99%, respectively) and inland forests (33%, 50%, and 88%), but net gains of tidal flats (17%, 142%, and 3,837%). One implication of these findings at the site level is that undeveloped, unprotected lands inland from the coastal forest should be protected to accommodate upslope migration of this natural community in response to rising seas. At a broader scale, our results suggest that coastal wetland systems will be unevenly affected across the Gulf of Mexico as sea level rises. Species vulnerable to these anticipated changes will experience a net loss or even elimination.  相似文献   

Physical sedimentology experiments with sulfuric acid solutions: Implications for Mars?     

Kathleen C. Benison  Deidre LaClair  Jessica Walker   《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2008,270(3-4):330-337

Physical sedimentology experiments have shown that sulfuric acid solutions may have formed some surface features seen on Mars. Recent data returned from Mars show the presence of jarosite, sulfate salts, hematite, phyllosilicates, and opaline silica, all of which precipitate from some terrestrial sulfuric acid solutions. There is a plethora of geochemical, mineralogical, and sedimentological data indicative of past sulfuric acid systems on Mars, but there has never been a comprehensive study published regarding sulfuric acid as a physical sedimentological agent. In the laboratory, we ran liquids of various compositions over sediments in order to test how these liquids entrain, transport, and deposit sediments. Pure water and concentrated sulfuric acid solutions produced the same general features, such as channels, gullies, and alluvial fans. However, sulfuric acid solutions yielded some distinct sedimentary features not produced by pure water runs. These features, narrow, deeply incised channels of consistent widths, rounded discrete fans, and air bubble “craters”, are similar to some Martian landscape features. These experimental results indicate that acid solutions should be considered a possible sedimentological agent on Mars.  相似文献   

Volcanic tsunamis and prehistoric cultural transitions in Cook Inlet,Alaska     

James Begét  Cynthia Gardner  Kathleen Davis 《Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research》2008

The 1883 eruption of Augustine Volcano produced a tsunami when a debris avalanche traveled into the waters of Cook Inlet. Older debris avalanches and coeval paleotsunami deposits from sites around Cook Inlet record several older volcanic tsunamis. A debris avalanche into the sea on the west side of Augustine Island ca. 450 years ago produced a wave that affected areas 17 m above high tide on Augustine Island. A large volcanic tsunami was generated by a debris avalanche on the east side of Augustine Island ca. 1600 yr BP, and affected areas more than 7 m above high tide at distances of 80 km from the volcano on the Kenai Peninsula. A tsunami deposit dated to ca. 3600 yr BP is tentatively correlated with a southward directed collapse of the summit of Redoubt Volcano, although little is known about the magnitude of the tsunami. The 1600 yr BP tsunami from Augustine Volcano occurred about the same time as the collapse of the well-developed Kachemak culture in the southern Cook Inlet area, suggesting a link between volcanic tsunamis and prehistoric cultural changes in this region of Alaska.  相似文献   

Photonic dating of prehistoric irrigation canals at Phoenix,Arizona, U.S.A.*     

Glenn W. Berger  T. Kathleen Henderson  D. Banerjee  Fred L. Nials 《Geoarchaeology》2004,19(1):1-19

A number of archeological features, including in‐filled irrigation canals of uncertain prehistoric age, occur within the Holocene floodplain of the Salt River at Phoenix, Arizona. In the first attempt to date irrigation‐canal sediments using luminescence methods, we obtained age estimates of 1640 ± 190 yr B.P. (1σ) (multi‐aliquot or MA) and 1621 ± 95 yr B.P. (post‐IR single‐aliquot‐regenerative‐dose or SAR) for a single sample from the base of the oldest canal‐infilling deposits (all IR‐PSL ages reported in this article are in calendar years before A.D. 2001). For the remaining canal samples, weighted mean luminescence ages of 819 ± 45 yr (MA) and 826 ± 32 yr (post‐IR SAR) were obtained. Thus from photonic dating we can resolve the first and last phases of canal use at this Phoenix site: initiation at ca. 1600 years ago and final use at ca. 800 years ago. These results demonstrate the power of SAR luminescence sediment dating to enhance our understanding of prehistoric irrigation‐canal development and usage here and elsewhere in the world. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.  相似文献   

Field Demonstration of the Horizontal Treatment Well (HRX Well®) for Passive In Situ Remediation     

Craig E. Divine  Jesse Wright  Michelle Crimi  J.F. Devlin  Michael Lubrecht  Jack Wang  Jeff McDonough  Michael Kladias  Jesse Hinkle  Allison Cormican  Trevor Osorno  Blossom N. Nzeribe  Fiona Laramay  Daniel Ombalski  Kathleen Gerber  Hunter Anderson 《Ground Water Monitoring & Remediation》2020,40(3):42-54

The horizontal reactive media treatment well (HRX Well®) uses directionally drilled horizontal wells filled with a treatment media to induce flow-focusing behavior created by the well-to-aquifer permeability contrast to passively capture proportionally large volumes of groundwater. Groundwater is treated in situ as it flows through the HRX Well and downgradient portions of the aquifer are cleaned via elution as these zones are flushed with clean water discharging from the HRX Well. The HRX Well concept is particularly well suited for sites where long-term mass discharge control is a primary performance objective. This concept is appropriate for recalcitrant and difficult-to-treat constituents, including chlorinated solvents, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 1,4-dioxane, and metals. A full-scale HRX Well was installed and operated to treat trichloroethene (TCE) with zero valent iron (ZVI). The model-predicted enhanced flow through the HRX Well (compared to the flow in and equivalent cross-sectional area orthogonal to flow in the natural formation before HRX Well installation) and treatment zone width was consistent with flows and widths estimated independently by point velocity probe (PVP) testing, HRX Well tracer testing, and observed treatment in downgradient monitoring wells. The actual average capture zone width was estimated to be between 45 and 69 feet. Total TCE mass discharge reduction was maintained through the duration of the performance monitoring period and exceeded 99.99% (%). Decreases in TCE concentrations were observed at all four downgradient monitoring wells within the treatment zone (ranging from 50 to 74% at day 436), and the first arrival of treated water was consistent with model predictions. The field demonstration confirmed the HRX Well technology is best suited for long-term mass discharge control, can be installed under active infrastructure, requires limited ongoing operation and maintenance, and has low life cycle energy and water requirements.  相似文献   

Automatic change detection in lane-level road networks using GPS trajectories   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Xue Yang  Kathleen Stewart  Zhen Dong  Xia Zhang  Qingquan Li 《International journal of geographical information science》2018,32(3):601-621

Lane-level road network updating is crucial for urban traffic applications that use geographic information systems contributing to, for example, intelligent driving, route planning and traffic control. Researchers have developed various algorithms to update road networks using sensor data, such as high-definition images or GPS data; however, approaches that involve change detection for road networks at lane level using GPS data are less common. This paper presents a novel method for automatic change detection of lane-level road networks based on GPS trajectories of vehicles. The proposed method includes two steps: map matching at lane level and lane-level change recognition. To integrate the most up-to-date GPS data with a lane-level road network, this research uses a fuzzy logic road network matching method. The proposed map-matching method starts with a confirmation of candidate lane-level road segments that use error ellipses derived from the GPS data, and then computes the membership degree between GPS data and candidate lane-level segments. The GPS trajectory data is classified into successful or unsuccessful matches using a set of defuzzification rules. Any topological and geometrical changes to road networks are detected by analysing the two kinds of matching results and comparing their relationships with the original road network. Change detection results for road networks in Wuhan, China using collected GPS trajectories show that these methods can be successfully applied to detect lane-level road changes including added lanes, closed lanes and lane-changing and turning rules, while achieving a robust detection precision of above 80%.  相似文献   

Fate of individual sewage disposal system wastewater within regolith in mountainous terrain     

Kathleen Dano  Eileen Poeter  Geoff Thyne 《Hydrogeology Journal》2008,16(4):691-699

In order to improve understanding of the fate of septic tank or individual sewage disposal system (ISDS) effluent in regolith overlying fractured-rock aquifers, effluent from an ISDS in such a setting was tracked via geophysical, hydrological, and geochemical methods. Under typical precipitation conditions, the effluent entered the fractured bedrock within 5 m of the boundary of the constructed infiltration area. During a period of unusually high spring recharge, the plume migrated between 50 and 100 m within the regolith before infiltrating the fractured bedrock. The chemical signature of the effluent is similar to that required to account for the decline in water quality, suggesting a causative relationship (as estimated from mass-balance models of the surface-water chemistry near the mouth of the basin). The elevated salt content of the effluent during periods of high natural recharge to the infiltration area correlates with elevated salt concentrations in surface and groundwater at the basin scale, suggesting that some of the effluent salt load may be stored in the unsaturated zone during dry periods and flushed during periods of elevated natural recharge.  相似文献   

A comparison of winter mercury accumulation at forested and no-canopy sites measured with different snow sampling techniques     

Sarah J. Nelson  Kenneth B. Johnson  Kathleen C. Weathers  Cynthia S. Loftin  Ivan J. Fernandez  Jeffrey S. Kahl  David P. Krabbenhoft 《Applied Geochemistry》2008

Atmospheric mercury (Hg) is delivered to ecosystems via rain, snow, cloud/fog, and dry deposition. The importance of snow, especially snow that has passed through the forest canopy (throughfall), in delivering Hg to terrestrial ecosystems has received little attention in the literature. The snowpack is a dynamic system that links atmospheric deposition and ecosystem cycling through deposition and emission of deposited Hg. To examine the magnitude of Hg delivery via snowfall, and to illuminate processes affecting Hg flux to catchments during winter (cold season), Hg in snow in no-canopy areas and under forest canopies measured with four collection methods were compared: (1) Hg in wet precipitation as measured by the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) for the site in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, (2) event throughfall (collected after snowfall cessation for accumulations of >8 cm), (3) season-long throughfall collected using the same apparatus for event sampling but deployed for the entire cold season, and (4) snowpack sampling. Estimates (mean ± SE) of Hg deposition using these methods during the 91-day cold season in 2004–2005 at conifer sites showed that season-long throughfall Hg flux (1.80 μg/m²) < snowpack Hg (2.38 ± 0.68 μg/m²) < event throughfall flux (5.63 ± 0.38 μg/m²). Mercury deposition at the MDN site (0.91 μg/m²) was similar to that measured at other no-canopy sites in the area using the other methods, but was 3.4 times less than was measured under conifer canopies using the event sampling regime. This indicates that snow accumulated under the forest canopy received Hg from the overstory or exhibited less re-emission of Hg deposited in snow relative to open areas. The soil surface of field-scale plots were sprayed with a natural rain water sample that contained an Hg tracer (²⁰²Hg) just prior to the first snowfall to explore whether some snowpack Hg might be explained from soil emissions. The appearance of the ²⁰²Hg tracer in the snowpack (0–64% of the total Hg mass in the snowpack) suggests that movement of Hg from the soil into the snowpack is possible. However, as with any tracer study the ²⁰²Hg tracer may not precisely represent the reactivity and mobility of natural Hg in soils.  相似文献