Correlation between climate data and land altitude for Fasciola hepatica infection in cattle in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract Fascioliasis is a food-borne parasitic disease that affects a range of animals, including humans caused by Fasciola hepatica. The present study aimed to determine the spatial distribution of bovine fasciolosis and to assess the correlation between the high Positivity Index (PI) and climate data and land altitude, from 2004 to 2008 and 2010 in Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil. Condemned livers of slaughtered animals were obtained from 198 out of 293 municipalities and from 518.635 animals, exclusively from SC. There was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) between the prevalence of F. hepatica and land altitude ( ρ ^ s = -0.43). The highest PI (above 10.1%) was observed in cities at 500 to 600 m (P < 0.01; ρ ^ s = -0.47) of altitude. There was no correlation between fascioliasis and rainfall in SC. It was determined that weather conditions in the past decade did not impose any limitation to the occurrence of the parasite, making it a disease of permanent clinical importance. These findings are essential to regions with similar geographical and climate conditions (i.e. altitude), when considering long-term control measurements, where animals and humans can be infected.

Download Full-text

Long-term temporal changes in the occurrence of a high forest fire danger in Finland

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-12-2591-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 2591-2601 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

H. M. Mäkelä ◽

M. Laapas ◽

A. Venäläinen

Keyword(s):

Forest Fire ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Large Scale ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Fire Danger ◽

Specific Information ◽

Climate Data ◽

Forest Fire Danger

Abstract. Climate variation and change influence several ecosystem components including forest fires. To examine long-term temporal variations of forest fire danger, a fire danger day (FDD) model was developed. Using mean temperature and total precipitation of the Finnish wildfire season (June–August), the model describes the climatological preconditions of fire occurrence and gives the number of fire danger days during the same time period. The performance of the model varied between different regions in Finland being best in south and west. In the study period 1908–2011, the year-to-year variation of FDD was large and no significant increasing or decreasing tendencies could be found. Negative slopes of linear regression lines for FDD could be explained by the simultaneous, mostly not significant increases in precipitation. Years with the largest wildfires did not stand out from the FDD time series. This indicates that intra-seasonal variations of FDD enable occurrence of large-scale fires, despite the whole season's fire danger is on an average level. Based on available monthly climate data, it is possible to estimate the general fire conditions of a summer. However, more detailed input data about weather conditions, land use, prevailing forestry conventions and socio-economical factors would be needed to gain more specific information about a season's fire risk.

Download Full-text

Evolution of pancreatic cancer survival over the past two decades.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2017.35.15_suppl.e15722 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e15722-e15722

Author(s):

Veronica Mariotti ◽

Ricardo Daniel Parrondo ◽

Miguel Gonzalez Velez ◽

Narjust Duma ◽

Lori Ann Leslie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pancreatic Cancer ◽

Cancer Survival ◽

Single Agent ◽

Surgical Techniques ◽

Pancreatic Head ◽

Age At Diagnosis ◽

Cancer Center ◽

The Past ◽

Significant Difference

e15722 Background: Pancreatic cancer (PaCa) is a highly lethal disease, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of approximately 6%, and a median OS of only 3–6 months (m). Despite recent improvements in surgical techniques and increased use of combination chemotherapy (CT), OS remains poor. This study aims to examine the factors that led to increased OS in PaCa patients (pts) over the past two decades in a single academic institution. Methods: All medical records of pts diagnosed with PaCa at the John Theurer Cancer Center from 1990 to 2012 were reviewed, and 916 PaCa pts were included in this analysis. We compared one group of pts diagnosed from 1990 to 2003 (G1, n = 482), with a group of pts diagnosed from 2004 to 2012 (G2, n = 434) in terms of OS, demographics, tumor features and treatment (tx). Results: Median age at diagnosis was 70.5 years (range 26-96). There was no significant difference between G1 and G2 in terms of age at diagnosis, stage of disease and number of pts who received surgery. A significantly higher percentage of pts received CT in G2 compared to G1 (66.5% vs 51.0%, p = .00). Tumors of the pancreatic head were more common in G1 compared to G2 (51.8% vs 44.4% p = .02). More pts in G2 received two or more CT agents compared to G1 (49.0% vs 34.1%, p = .00). Median OS was significantly longer in G2 compared to G1 (9m vs 5m, p = .00), in pts who received CT compared to pts who did not (3m vs 9m, p = .00) and in pts who received surgery compared to pts who did not (5m vs 19m, p = .00). Pancreatic head location was associated with improved OS compared to other locations (9m vs 5m, p = .00). No OS difference was found between pts who received combination with two or more agents vs single agent CT. Conclusions: In line with multiple studies, analysis of PaCa data from our institution showed an increase OS in pts diagnosed with PaCa in more recent years, and in those who received surgery and CT. CT was administered in a larger number of pts in G2, which might account for the better OS in this group. Pts diagnosed with tumors of the pancreatic head had better survival, which could be explained by earlier presentation leading to earlier diagnosis and tx. Further research in PaCa therapeutics is needed, as long-term OS in PaCa pts remains poor despite recent advances.

Download Full-text

ANALYSIS OF TREND AND VARIABILITY OF SUMMER SEASON VISIBILITY AND TEMPERATURE IN SAHEL ZONE OF NIGERIA

FUDMA Journal of Sciences ◽

10.33003/fjs-2020-0403-416 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 489-495

Author(s):

Mukhtar Balarabe ◽

Bello Saadu

Keyword(s):

Meteorological Data ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Negative Temperature ◽

Summer Season ◽

Climate Data ◽

The Past ◽

Increasing Trend ◽

Relationship Of ◽

Threat To Life

The variation of climate in the past on different time scale in Nigeria has generated a lot of concern and is still posing a threat to life and properties. Meteorologist and climatologist in Nigeria are working hard to address this problem. This study assessed the recent trend and variability of summer season`s visibility and temperature for Sahel zone of Nigeria. The long-term (1988-2017) summer seasons meteorological data derived from National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency-National Climate Data Centre (NOAA-NCDC) were used. A significant decreasing trend in visibility and increasing trend in temperature were detected during the entire period of study. The overall averages were 14.71 ± 4.17 km and 24.54 ± 4.19 respectively. The trends were found more significance in the last ten years. The Decades` means are 19.38± 3.05, 13.76 ± 2.09, 10.98 ± 1.28 km and 20.60 ± 4.72◦C, 25.78 ± 2.54 ◦C and 27.25 ± 0.79 ◦C for the first, second and third decades respectively. Standardize anomaly chart revealed that over the period of study, positive visibility anomaly correspond to negative temperature anomaly and vice visa. Their correlation at p< 0.05 significant level showed a negative relationship of 0.54 over the thirty years period. However, decade analysis showed a positive correlation of 0.47 and negative correlations of 0.61 and 0.74 for the first, second and third decades respectively. These suggest that summer season of the recent decades are dustier than the previous ones and that, summer season of the recent decades become hotter than the previous decades

Download Full-text

LONG-TERM MONITORING OF THE EUROPEAN ROLLER (CORACIAS GARRULUS) IN UKRAINE: IS CLIMATE BEHIND THE CHANGES?

10.32942/osf.io/6t7uq ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tatiana Shupova ◽

Volodymyr Tytar

Keyword(s):

Spatially Explicit ◽

Climate Data ◽

Time Intervals ◽

Coracias Garrulus ◽

The Past ◽

Historical Times ◽

Long Term Monitoring ◽

European Roller ◽

Term Monitoring

Since the 1980s there has been a long-term decline in numbers and contraction of range in Europe, including Ukraine. Our specific goals were to reconstruct the climatically suitable range of the species in Ukraine before the 1980s, gain better knowledge on its requirements, compare the past and current suitable areas, infer the regional and environmental variables that best explain its occurrence, and quantify the overall range change in the country. For these purposes we created a database consisting of 347 records of the roller made ever in Ukraine. We employed a species distribution modeling (SDM) approach to hindcast changes in the suitable range of the roller during historical times across Ukraine and to derive spatially explicit predictions of climatic suitability for the species under current climate. SDMs were created for three time intervals (before 1980, 1985-2009, 2010-2021) using corresponding climate data extracted from the TerraClim database. SDMs show a decline of suitable for rollers areas in the country from 85 to 46%. Several factors, including land cover and use, human population density and climate, that could have contributed to the decline of the species in Ukraine were considered. We suggest climate change and its speed (velocity) have been responsible for shaping the contemporary home range of the European roller.

Download Full-text

Long-term impact of nitrogen addition on the carbon balance of a boreal pine forest in Northern Sweden

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21293 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Peng Zhao ◽

Jinshu Chi ◽

Mats Nilsson ◽

Mikaell Ottosson.Lofvenius ◽

Sune Linder ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forests ◽

Ecosystem Respiration ◽

Gross Primary Production ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

C Sequestration ◽

Nitrogen Addition ◽

N Addition ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Sequestration Potential

Nitrogen (N) added through atmospheric deposition or as fertilizer in boreal forests may alter their carbon (C) sequestration potential and sensitivity to climatic changes. While previous studies have primarily explored the responses of individual ecosystem components such as stem biomass production and soil carbon changes following N addition, the long-term impacts of N addition on the ecosystem-scale C balance of boreal forests still remain unclear. Here, we use data from eddy-covariance measurements in a fertilized Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest (i.e. 16 ha receiving 100 and 50 kg N ha-1 yr-1 since 2006 and 2012, respectively) and an adjacent unfertilized control stand in boreal Sweden to investigate how one decade of N addition affected the net ecosystem productivity (NEP), gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) over five fertilization years (2015-2019). Results showed that N fertilization increased GPP in all five years with by 18% at average to 1183&#177;41 g C m-2 yr-1 in the N-fertilized stand compared to 1003&#177;56 g C m-2 yr-1 in the control stand. ER was also increased from 744&#177;29 g C m-2 yr-1 in the control stand to 875&#177;37 g C m-2 yr-1 in the fertilized stand. As a result, fertilization increased NEP from 259&#177;28 g C m-2 yr-1 in the control stand to 308&#177;20 g C m-2 yr-1 in the N-fertilized stand. Our results further suggested that the annual NEP was similar between stands during years with normal weather conditions (2015-2016) while NEP diverged due to a larger reduction in the control stand in years with environmental constraints (i.e. a cool summer in 2017 and droughts in 2018 and 2019). These findings indicate that enhanced N input to boreal forests increases and stabilizes their C sequestration potential under future climate conditions.

Download Full-text

Evaluating Nature-Based Solution for Flood Reduction in Spercheios River Basin under Current and Future Climate Conditions

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073885 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3885

Author(s):

Christos Spyrou ◽

Michael Loupis ◽

Νikos Charizopoulos ◽

Ilektra Apostolidou ◽

Angeliki Mentzafou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Maximum Velocity ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

The Impact

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are being deployed around the world in order to address hydrometeorological hazards, including flooding, droughts, landslides and many others. The term refers to techniques inspired, supported and copied from nature, avoiding large constructions and other harmful interventions. In this work the development and evaluation of an NBS applied to the Spercheios river basin in Central Greece is presented. The river is susceptible to heavy rainfall and bank overflow, therefore the intervention selected is a natural water retention measure that aims to moderate the impact of flooding and drought in the area. After the deployment of the NBS, we examine the benefits under current and future climate conditions, using various climate change scenarios. Even though the NBS deployed is small compared to the rest of the river, its presence leads to a decrease in the maximum depth of flooding, maximum velocity and smaller flooded areas. Regarding the subsurface/groundwater storage under current and future climate change and weather conditions, the NBS construction seems to favor long-term groundwater recharge.

Download Full-text

Multi-step-ahead forecasting of hourly potential evapotranspiration for irrigation triggering in horticultural nurseries under oceanic climate

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/958/1/012025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 958 (1) ◽

pp. 012025

Author(s):

R Tawegoum

Keyword(s):

Potential Evapotranspiration ◽

Moving Average ◽

Recursive Algorithm ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Irrigation Scheduling ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Sensor Failure ◽

Climate Data ◽

Local Climate ◽

Climate Conditions

Abstract Predicting hourly potential evapotranspiration is particularly important in constrained horticultural nurseries. This paper presents a three-step-ahead predictor of potential evapotranspiration for horticultural nurseries under unsettled weather conditions or climate sensor failure. The Seasonal AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average model based on climate data was used to derive a predictor using data generated according to prior knowledge of the system behavior; the aim of the predictor was to compensate for missing data that are usually not considered in standard forecasting approaches. The generated data also offer the opportunity to capture variations of the model parameters due to abrupt changes in local climate conditions. A recursive algorithm was used to estimate parameter variation, and the Kalman filter to model the state of the system. The simulations for steady-state weather and unsettled weather conditions showed that the predictor could forecast potential evapotranspiration more accurately than the standard approach did. These results are encouraging within the context of predictive irrigation scheduling in nurseries.

Download Full-text

On the Stationarity of Annual Precipitation over China (1959–2018)

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm-d-19-0195.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (5) ◽

pp. 881-890 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hong Wang ◽

Fubao Sun

Keyword(s):

Water Resource ◽

Resource Planning ◽

Annual Precipitation ◽

Observation Data ◽

Grid Cells ◽

The Past ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Average Variation ◽

Long Term Observation

AbstractStationarity is an assumption that permeates training and practice in water-resource engineering. However, with global change, the validity of stationarity as well as uncertainty of nonstationarity in water-resource planning are being questioned; thus, it is critical to evaluate the stationarity of climate variables, especially precipitation. Based on the continuous observation data of precipitation from 1427 stations across China, 593 efficient grid cells (1° × 1°) are constructed, and the annual precipitation stationarities from 1959 to 2018 are analyzed. The evaluated autocorrelation stationarity indicates that 92.24%–96.12% of the grid cells for an autocorrelation coefficient of lag 1–8 years of precipitation are indistinguishable from 0 [90% confidence level (CL)]. The mean stationarity indicates that 97.47% of the grid cells have a stable mean for 30 years (90% CL); beyond the confidence limits, they are mainly located in the northwest of China, where annual precipitation is less, and the average exceeding range is ±3.78 mm. The long-term observation of annual precipitation in Beijing (1819–2018) and Shanghai (1879–2018) also yields autocorrelation and mean stationarities. There is no significant difference in the annual precipitations between the past 20 years (1999–2018) and the past 60 years (1959–2018) over China. Therefore, the annual precipitation in China exhibits a weak stationary behavior that is indistinguishable from the stationary stochastic process. The average variation in precipitation is ±9.55% between 30 successive years and 16.53% between 10 successive years. Therefore, it is valuable and feasible to utilize the historical data of annual precipitation as the basis of water-resources application.

Download Full-text

Late Holocene Climate Changes in Eastern North America Estimated from Pollen Data

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(88)90034-8 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 255-262 ◽

Cited By ~ 88

Author(s):

K. Gajewski

Keyword(s):

Summer Temperature ◽

Annual Precipitation ◽

Climate Data ◽

Term Trend ◽

The Past ◽

Modern Pollen ◽

Time Control ◽

Regression Techniques ◽

Long Term Trend

Well-dated pollen profiles from six sites from Maine to Minnesota record vegetation changes indicative of summer temperature and annual precipitation variations over the past 2000 yr. Laminations in the sediment provide accurate time control. Multiple regression techniques were used to calculate calibration functions from a spatial network of modern pollen and climate data. When applied to the six pollen diagrams, these calibration functions yielded estimates that show a long-term trend toward lower summer temperature. Superimposed on this long-term trend are short-term fluctuations that are frequently in phase at the sites. Departures from the long-term cooling trend are positive around 1500 yr ago (indicating relative warmth) and negative between 200 and 500 yr ago (indicating relative cold). Annual precipitation showed a slight increase at several sites during the past 1000 yr relative to the previous 1000 yr.

Download Full-text

Evaluating the Performance of Eigenface, Fisherface, and Local Binary Pattern Histogram-Based Facial Recognition Methods under Various Weather Conditions

Technologies ◽

10.3390/technologies9020031 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 31

Author(s):

Md Manjurul Ahsan ◽

Yueqing Li ◽

Jing Zhang ◽

Md Tanvir Ahad ◽

Kishor Datta Gupta

Keyword(s):

Time Complexity ◽

Local Binary Pattern ◽

Facial Recognition ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

The Other ◽

The Past ◽

Face Images ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Face Datasets ◽

Pattern Histogram

Facial recognition (FR) in unconstrained weather is still challenging and surprisingly ignored by many researchers and practitioners over the past few decades. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the performance of three existing popular facial recognition methods considering different weather conditions. As a result, a new face dataset (Lamar University database (LUDB)) was developed that contains face images captured under various weather conditions such as foggy, cloudy, rainy, and sunny. Three very popular FR methods—Eigenface (EF), Fisherface (FF), and Local binary pattern histogram (LBPH)—were evaluated considering two other face datasets, AT&T and 5_Celebrity, along with LUDB in term of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score with 95% confidence interval (CI). Computational results show a significant difference among the three FR techniques in terms of overall time complexity and accuracy. LBPH outperforms the other two FR algorithms on both LUDB and 5_Celebrity datasets by achieving 40% and 95% accuracy, respectively. On the other hand, with minimum execution time of 1.37, 1.37, and 1.44 s per image on AT&T,5_Celebrity, and LUDB, respectively, Fisherface achieved the best result.

Download Full-text