scholarly journals Nocturnal city lighting elicits a macroscale response from an insect outbreak population

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elske K. Tielens ◽  
Paula M. Cimprich ◽  
Bonne A. Clark ◽  
Alisha M. DiPilla ◽  
Jeffrey F. Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Movement Ecology ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Insect Behaviour ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Insect Populations

Anthropogenic environmental change affects organisms by exposing them to enhanced sensory stimuli that can elicit novel behavioural responses. A pervasive feature of the built environment is artificial nocturnal lighting, and brightly lit urban areas can influence organism abundance, distribution and community structure within proximate landscapes. In some cases, the attractive or disorienting effect of artificial light at night can draw animals into highly unfavourable habitats, acting as a macroscale attractive ecological sink. Despite their significance for animal ecology, identifying cases of these phenomena and determining their effective scales and the number of organisms impacted remains challenging. Using an integrated set of remote-sensing observations, we quantify the effect of a large-scale attractive sink on nocturnal flights of an outbreak insect population in Las Vegas, USA. At the peak of the outbreak, over 45 million grasshoppers took flight across the region, with the greatest numbers concentrating over high-intensity city lighting. Patterns of dusk ascent from vegetated habitat toward urban areas suggest a daily pull toward a time-varying nocturnal attractive sink. The strength of this attractor varies with grasshopper density. These observations provide the first macroscale characterization of the effects of nocturnal urban lighting on the behaviour of regional insect populations and demonstrate the link between insect perception of the built environment and resulting changes in spatial and movement ecology. As human-induced environmental change continues to affect insect populations, understanding the impacts of nocturnal light on insect behaviour and fitness will be vital to developing robust large-scale management and conservation strategies.

A comparative study of greywater from domestic and public buildings

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Santos ◽  
C. Matos ◽  
F. Taveira-Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Public Buildings ◽  
Correct Definition ◽  
Cost Effective Treatment ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Definition Of

Greywater (GW) can be an important resource for urban water consumption, replacing potable water for purposes that do not require drinking water quality. If applied on a large scale, this practice will reduce the potable water demand and the wastewater produced in urban areas, minimizing the negative impacts and costs of water extraction and wastewater treatment. A correct characterization of GW is important to assess its potential for a direct reuse or, if not possible, to make a correct definition of a feasible and cost-effective treatment system. This article aims to contribute to the characterization of GW produced in washbasins and showers in domestic and public buildings. A compilation of several works on GW collection and sampling produced by the authors is presented. Samples were taken from GW produced in showers and washbasins in households, changing rooms and in a restaurant. Results are compared with values presented in similar studies and compared with standards and guidelines published in different countries.

scholarly journals Impact of Culture on Rural Built Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10S) ◽  
pp. 78-84
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
The Common

The term “built environment” refers to the human made or modified physical surroundings in which people live, work and play. These places and spaces include our homes, communities, schools, workplaces, parks/recreations areas, business areas and transportation systems, and vary in size from large-scale urban areas to smaller rural developments. Based on human activities, the environment was created to obtain the basic needs of people. The regular human activities for many generations to prepare their needs are considered as culture. Hence based on culture, the environment was built and maintained for future generation. Regions are separated into two types based on production occurs in rural area and trading developed in urban. In olden days, most of the places are rural because of the undevelopment in transport system. The activities involved in preparing food, shelter and other needs are the common factors to build rural environment. Natural resources are the basic factor that decides the build environment and culture of human in rural regions. By analyzing the natural resources, the cultural impacts are determined based on building environment in rural areas

Post Covid-19 built environment: Architecture and town planning

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-69
Author(s):  
Ashish Verma ◽  
Sanan Verma
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
City Development ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Extreme Stress

Globally, at the end of July 2020, 16,301,735 positive cases of COVID-19, with 650,068 deaths, as shown by WHO. Such huge numbers are an indication of large scale devastation. Although there are numerous traditions of designing built environments in the world, the origins of all contemporary cities can be outlined to community scuffles in contradiction of the consequences of the industrialist city such as Fire, Pandemics, Disasters and Environmental Squalor etc. Inclusive city development with a healthy urban built environment emerged as a way to minimize these failures. Dense urban areas made population exposed to pandemic and disaster, but cities have also learned with time how to minimize threats. This could be in the arrangement of health and sanitary codes while designing, safety regulations, health sensitive public place planning, and environmental conservation. Cities are susceptible as we have deteriorated their capability to anticipate, prepare and respond to disasters and pandemics. They are susceptible, not because they are having high collective densities, but because they are extremely unfit for living settings, facilities, income and admittance. For designing the post-COVID-19 built environments, we need to evaluate the existing practices. The traditional land use and infrastructure expansion must produce a place for a more comprehensive design that prioritizes health, equity, employment and environment. Urban areas will have to be planned and designed to survive the effects of pandemics and calamities. Architects will have to reform existing structures to provide for more ventilation and natural light and reduce the use of air conditioners. Planners in practice and the state need to think about the integration of the health sector on a priority basis in upcoming city plans and development schemes. Builders will have to reconsider raising huge skyscrapers with respect to physical wellbeing. Any city plan will have to be inclusive with healthy accommodation for the poor, the weak and the migrant strata who are exposed to extreme stress during crisis time.

Some applications of electron beam microanalysis techniques in VLSI process evaluation

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 160-161
Author(s):  
Simon Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Process Evaluation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Analysis Of Failures ◽  
Characterization Of Materials ◽  
Circuits Vlsi

Trends in the technology development of very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) have been in the direction of higher density of components with smaller dimensions. The scaling down of device dimensions has been not only laterally but also in depth. Such efforts in miniaturization bring with them new developments in materials and processing. Successful implementation of these efforts is, to a large extent, dependent on the proper understanding of the material properties, process technologies and reliability issues, through adequate analytical studies. The analytical instrumentation technology has, fortunately, kept pace with the basic requirements of devices with lateral dimensions in the micron/ submicron range and depths of the order of nonometers. Often, newer analytical techniques have emerged or the more conventional techniques have been adapted to meet the more stringent requirements. As such, a variety of analytical techniques are available today to aid an analyst in the efforts of VLSI process evaluation. Generally such analytical efforts are divided into the characterization of materials, evaluation of processing steps and the analysis of failures.

Characterization of seawater reverse osmosis fouled membranes from large scale commercial desalination plant

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chem Int
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Transmembrane Pressure ◽  
Hydraulic Permeability ◽  
Seawater Reverse Osmosis ◽  
A Chain

The objective of this work is to study the ageing state of a used reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken in Algeria from the Benisaf Water Company seawater desalination unit. The study consists of an autopsy procedure used to perform a chain of analyses on a membrane sheet. Wear of the membrane is characterized by a degradation of its performance due to a significant increase in hydraulic permeability (25%) and pressure drop as well as a decrease in salt retention (10% to 30%). In most cases the effects of ageing are little or poorly known at the local level and global measurements such as (flux, transmembrane pressure, permeate flow, retention rate, etc.) do not allow characterization. Therefore, a used RO (reverse osmosis) membrane was selected at the site to perform the membrane autopsy tests. These tests make it possible to analyze and identify the cause as well as to understand the links between performance degradation observed at the macroscopic scale and at the scale at which ageing takes place. External and internal visual observations allow seeing the state of degradation. Microscopic analysis of the used membranes surface shows the importance of fouling. In addition, quantification and identification analyses determine a high fouling rate in the used membrane whose foulants is of inorganic and organic nature. Moreover, the analyses proved the presence of a biofilm composed of protein.

Characterization of Interconnect Defects Using Scanning Thermal Conductivity Microscopy

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.W. Ho ◽  
J.C.H. Phang ◽  
A. Altes ◽  
L.J. Balk
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Large Scale

Abstract In this paper, scanning thermal conductivity microscopy is used to characterize interconnect defects due to electromigration. Similar features are observed both in the temperature and thermal conductivity micrographs. The key advantage of the thermal conductivity mode is that specimen bias is not required. This is an important advantage for the characterization of defects in large scale integrated circuits. The thermal conductivity micrographs of extrusion, exposed and subsurface voids are presented and compared with the corresponding topography and temperature micrographs.

Engineering in the time of cholera: overcoming institutional and political challenges to rebuild Zimbabwe's water and sanitation infrastructure in the aftermath of the 2008 cholera epidemic

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Brocklehurst ◽  
Murtaza Malik ◽  
Kiwe Sebunya ◽  
Peter Salama
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Rapid Improvement ◽  
Cholera Epidemic ◽  
Rapid Action ◽  
Water And Sanitation Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Rehabilitation

A devastating cholera epidemic swept Zimbabwe in 2008, causing over 90,000 cases, and leaving more than 4,000 dead. The epidemic raged predominantly in urban areas, and the cause could be traced to the slow deterioration of Zimbabwe's water and sewerage utilities during the economic and political crisis that had gripped the country since the late 1990s. Rapid improvement was needed if the country was to avoid another cholera outbreak. In this context, donors, development agencies and government departments joined forces to work in a unique partnership, and to implement a programme of swift improvements that went beyond emergency humanitarian aid but did not require the time or massive investment associated with full-scale urban rehabilitation. The interventions ranged from supply of water treatment chemicals and sewer rods to advocacy and policy advice. The authors analyse the factors that made the programme effective and the challenges that partners faced. The case of Zimbabwe offers valuable lessons for other countries transitioning from emergency to development, and particularly those that need to take rapid action to upgrade failing urban systems. It illustrates that there is a ‘middle path’ between short-term humanitarian aid delivered in urban areas and large-scale urban rehabilitation, which can provide timely and highly effective results.

Implantable neural interfaces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Vassanelli
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ionic Channels ◽  
Patch Clamp Technique ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Optogenetic Stimulation ◽  
Physical Interfaces ◽  
The Brain

Establishing direct communication with the brain through physical interfaces is a fundamental strategy to investigate brain function. Starting with the patch-clamp technique in the seventies, neuroscience has moved from detailed characterization of ionic channels to the analysis of single neurons and, more recently, microcircuits in brain neuronal networks. Development of new biohybrid probes with electrodes for recording and stimulating neurons in the living animal is a natural consequence of this trend. The recent introduction of optogenetic stimulation and advanced high-resolution large-scale electrical recording approaches demonstrates this need. Brain implants for real-time neurophysiology are also opening new avenues for neuroprosthetics to restore brain function after injury or in neurological disorders. This chapter provides an overview on existing and emergent neurophysiology technologies with particular focus on those intended to interface neuronal microcircuits in vivo. Chemical, electrical, and optogenetic-based interfaces are presented, with an analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the different technical approaches.

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