scholarly journals Evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on photochemical pollution in urban areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
Farid Rahal ◽  
Salima Rezak ◽  
Noureddine Benabadji
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Photochemical Pollution ◽  
The Impact

Urbanization of fauna on the example of marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 116-123
Author(s):  
A. P. Korzh ◽  
T. V. Zahovalko
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Cognitive Modeling ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Corrective Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Recently, the number of published works devoted to the processes of synanthropization of fauna, is growing like an avalanche, which indicates the extreme urgency of this theme. In our view, the process of forming devices to coexist with human and the results of his life reflects the general tandency of the modern nature evolution. Urbanization is characteristic for such a specific group of animals like amphibians, the evidence of which are numerous literature data. Many researchers use this group to assess the bioindicative quality of the environment. For this aim a variety of indicators are used: from the cellular level of life of organization up to the species composition of the group in different territories. At the same time, the interpretation of the results is not always comparable for different areas and often have significantly different interpretations by experts. Urban environment, primarily due to the contamination is extremely aggressive to amphibians. As a consequence, the urban populations of amphibians may be a change in the demographic structure, affecting the reproductive ability of the population, the disappearance of the most sensitive species or individuals, resizing animals, the appearance of abnormalities in the development, etc. At the same time play an important amphibians in the ecosystems of cities, and some species in these conditions even feel relatively comfortable. Therefore, it is interesting to understand the mechanisms of self-sustaining populations of amphibians in urban environments. To assess the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the development of amphibian populations were used cognitive modeling using the program Vensim PLE. Cognitive map of the model for urban and suburban habitat conditions were the same. The differences concerned the strength of connections between individual factors (migration, fertility, pollution) and their orientation. In general, factors like pollution, parasites, predators had negative impact on the population, reducing its number. The birth rate, food and migration contributed to raising number of individuals. Some of the factors affected on the strength to of each other as well: the majority of the factors affected the structure of the population, had an influence on the fertility. Thanks to it the model reflects the additive effect of complex of factors on the subsequent status of the population. Proposed and analyzed four scenarios differing strength and duration of exposure. In the first scenario, a one-time contamination occurs and not subsequently repeated. The second and third scenario assumes half board contamination, 1 year (2 scenario) and two years (scenario 3). In the fourth scenario, the pollution affected the population of amphibians constantly. In accordance with the results of simulation, much weaker than the natural populations respond to pollution - have them as an intensive population growth and its disappearance at constant pollution is slow. Changes to other parameters of the model showed that this pollution is the decisive factor -only the constant action leads to a lethal outcome for the populations. All other components of the model have a corrective effect on the population dynamics, without changing its underlying trand. In urban areas due to the heavy impact of pollution maintaining the population is only possible thanks to the migration process – the constant replenishment of diminishing micropopulations of natural reserves. This confirms the assumption that the form of existence metapopulations lake frog in the city. In order to maintain the number of amphibians in urban areas at a high level it is necessary to maintain existing migration routes and the creation of new ones. Insular nature of the placement of suitable habitats in urban areas causes the metapopulation structure of the types of urbanists. Therefore, the process of urbanization is much easier for those species whicht are capable of migration in conditions of city. In the initial stages of settling the city micropopulationis formed by selective mortality of the most susceptible individuals to adverse effects. In future, maintaining the categories of individuals is provided mainly due to migration processes metapopulisation form of the species of existence is supported). It should be noted that the changes in the previous levels are always saved in future. In the case of reorganizations of individuals we of morphology can assume the existence of extremely adverse environmental conditions that threaten the extinction of the micropopulations. 

Impact of Elected Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj in Physical and Financial and Business Assets Development of Rural Women: A Study among the Rural Women’s of Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu[1]

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalaichelvi Sivaraman ◽  
Rengasamy Stalin
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Panchayati Raj

This research paper is the part of Research Project entitled “Impact of Elected Women Representatives in the Life and Livelihood of the Women in Rural Areas: With Special Reference to Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu” funded by University of Madras under UGC-UPE Scheme.The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India were made by the government to strengthen the position of women and to create a local-level legal foundation for direct democracy for women in both rural and urban areas. The representation for women in local bodies through reservation policies amendment in Constitution of India has stimulated the political participation of women in rural areas. However, when it’s comes to the argument of whether the women reservation in Panchayati Raj helps or benefits to the life and livelihood development of women as a group? The answer is hypothetical because the studies related to the impact of women representatives of Panchayati Raj in the life and livelihood development of women was very less. Therefore, to fill the gap in existing literature, the present study was conducted among the rural women of Tiruvannamalai district to assess the impact of elected women representatives in the physical and financial and business development of the women in rural areas. The findings revealed that during the last five years because of the women representation in their village Panjayati Raj, the Physical Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (55.8%) and Highly (23.4%) and the Financial and Business Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (60.4%) and Highly (18.7%).

The Catholic Diaspora—Experiences of Evacuation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brodie
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Nazi Era ◽  
Mass Evacuation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pastoral Practice

This chapter analyses the impact exerted on the Catholic Church’s pastoral networks in Germany by the mass evacuation of laypeople from bombed urban areas as of 1941. Drawing on the voluminous correspondence of priests and curates despatched from the Rhineland and Westphalia to Saxony, Thuringia, Silesia, Austria, and elsewhere to minister to Catholic evacuees, this chapter provides in-depth analysis of the social and cultural histories of religious practice in wartime Germany. It demonstrates that the evacuation of laypeople—a topic long neglected within histories of wartime religious practice—exerted a profound influence on pastoral practice by the years 1943–5, placing unprecedented pressures on the Catholic clergy of the dioceses central to this study (Aachen, Cologne and Münster). This chapter therefore also casts new light on regionalism in Germany during the Nazi era.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Ring Roads on the Location Pattern of Shops in Town and City Centres. A Space Syntax Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3927
Author(s):  
Akkelies van Nes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Space Syntax ◽  
Optimal Location ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Location Pattern ◽  
Ring Road ◽  
Road Projects ◽  
The Impact ◽  
City Centres

This contribution demonstrates how inner ring roads change the location pattern of shops in urban areas with the application of the space syntax method. A market rational behaviour persists, in that shop owners always search for an optimal location to reach as many customers as possible. If the accessibility to this optimal location is affected by changes in a city’s road and street structure, it will affect the location pattern of shops. Initially, case studies of inner ring road projects in Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Tampere, and Mannheim show how their realisation affect the spatial structure of the street network of these cities and the location pattern of shops. The results of the spatial integration analyses of the street and road network are discussed with reference to changes in land-use before and after the implementation of ring roads, and current space syntax theories. As the results show, how an inner ring road is connected to and the type of the street network it is imposed upon dictates the resulting location pattern of shops. Shops locate and relocate themselves along the most spatially-integrated streets. Evidence on how new road projects influence the location pattern of shops in urban centres are useful for planning sustainable city centres.

scholarly journals Mapping 20 Years of Urban Expansion in 45 Urban Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 525
Author(s):  
Yann Forget ◽  
Michal Shimoni ◽  
Marius Gilbert ◽  
Catherine Linard
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Annual Growth Rate ◽  
Urban Dynamics ◽  
Mapping Approach ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

By 2050, half of the net increase in the world’s population is expected to reside in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), driving high urbanization rates and drastic land cover changes. However, the data-scarce environment of SSA limits our understanding of the urban dynamics in the region. In this context, Earth Observation (EO) is an opportunity to gather accurate and up-to-date spatial information on urban extents. During the last decade, the adoption of open-access policies by major EO programs (CBERS, Landsat, Sentinel) has allowed the production of several global high resolution (10–30 m) maps of human settlements. However, mapping accuracies in SSA are usually lower, limited by the lack of reference datasets to support the training and the validation of the classification models. Here we propose a mapping approach based on multi-sensor satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel-1, Envisat, ERS) and volunteered geographic information (OpenStreetMap) to solve the challenges of urban remote sensing in SSA. The proposed mapping approach is assessed in 17 case studies for an average F1-score of 0.93, and applied in 45 urban areas of SSA to produce a dataset of urban expansion from 1995 to 2015. Across the case studies, built-up areas averaged a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% between 1995 and 2015. The comparison with local population dynamics reveals the heterogeneity of urban dynamics in SSA. Overall, population densities in built-up areas are decreasing. However, the impact of population growth on urban expansion differs depending on the size of the urban area and its income class.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of Street-View Greenery on Fear of Neighborhood Crime in Guangzhou, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Fengrui Jing ◽  
Lin Liu ◽  
Suhong Zhou ◽  
Jiangyu Song ◽  
Linsen Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
Street View ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Physical Incivilities

Previous literature has examined the relationship between the amount of green space and perceived safety in urban areas, but little is known about the effect of street-view neighborhood greenery on perceived neighborhood safety. Using a deep learning approach, we derived greenery from a massive set of street view images in central Guangzhou. We further tested the relationships and mechanisms between street-view greenery and fear of crime in the neighborhood. Results demonstrated that a higher level of neighborhood street-view greenery was associated with a lower fear of crime, and its relationship was mediated by perceived physical incivilities. While increasing street greenery of the micro-environment may reduce fear of crime, this paper also suggests that social factors should be considered when designing ameliorative programs.

scholarly journals Characterization of the subsurface urban heat island and its sources in the Milan city area, Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Previati ◽  
Giovanni B. Crosta
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Shallow Aquifer ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Groundwater Temperature ◽  
City Area ◽  
Groundwater Environment ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The Impact

AbstractUrban areas are major contributors to the alteration of the local atmospheric and groundwater environment. The impact of such changes on the groundwater thermal regime is documented worldwide by elevated groundwater temperature in city centers with respect to the surrounding rural areas. This study investigates the subsurface urban heat island (SUHI) in the aquifers beneath the Milan city area in northern Italy, and assesses the natural and anthropogenic controls on groundwater temperatures within the urban area by analyzing groundwater head and temperature records acquired in the 2016–2020 period. This analysis demonstrates the occurrence of a SUHI with up to 3 °C intensity and reveals a correlation between the density of building/subsurface infrastructures and the mean annual groundwater temperature. Vertical heat fluxes to the aquifer are strongly related to the depth of the groundwater and the density of surface structures and infrastructures. The heat accumulation in the subsurface is reflected by a constant groundwater warming trend between +0.1 and + 0.4 °C/year that leads to a gain of 25 MJ/m2 of thermal energy per year in the shallow aquifer inside the SUHI area. Future monitoring of groundwater temperatures, combined with numerical modeling of coupled groundwater flow and heat transport, will be essential to reveal what this trend is controlled by and to make predictions on the lateral and vertical extent of the groundwater SUHI in the study area.

scholarly journals Overall Efficiency of On-Site Production and Storage of Solar Thermal Energy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1360
Author(s):  
Teodora M. Șoimoșan ◽  
Ligia M. Moga ◽  
Livia Anastasiu ◽  
Daniela L. Manea ◽  
Aurica Căzilă ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Multicriteria Analysis ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Storage

Harnessing renewable energy sources (RES) using hybrid systems for buildings is almost a deontological obligation for engineers and researchers in the energy field, and increasing the percentage of renewables within the energy mix represents an important target. In crowded urban areas, on-site energy production and storage from renewables can be a real challenge from a technical point of view. The main objectives of this paper are quantification of the impact of the consumer’s profile on overall energy efficiency for on-site storage and final use of solar thermal energy, as well as developing a multicriteria assessment in order to provide a methodology for selection in prioritizing investments. Buildings with various consumption profiles lead to achieving different values of performance indicators in similar configurations of storage and energy supply. In this regard, an analysis of the consumption profile’s impact on overall energy efficiency, achieved in the case of on-site generation and storage of solar thermal energy, was performed. The obtained results validate the following conclusion: On-site integration of solar systems allowed the consumers to use RES at the desired coverage rates, while restricted by on-site available mounting areas for solar fields and thermal storage, under conditions of high energy efficiencies. In order to segregate the results and support optimal selection, a multicriteria analysis was carried out, having as the main criteria the energy efficiency indicators achieved by hybrid heating systems.

scholarly journals “We Make Our Community”: Youth Forging Environmental Identities in Urban Landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7736
Author(s):  
Erin Gallay ◽  
Alisa Pykett ◽  
Constance Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
School Students ◽  
Environmental Leadership ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

Insofar as race, class, and gender have profound effects on people’s environmental experiences, and consequently their activism, the environmental field needs more work on the environmental experiences and insights of groups whose voices have been missing, including youth of color who live in urban areas in the U.S. In this paper, we focus on African American and Latinx students engaged in environmental projects in their urban communities and the impact of such projects on promoting pro-environmental leadership, agency, and behavior. We draw from written reflections and focus group interviews of several hundred 4th–12th graders (majority middle- and high-school students) who participated in place-based civic science projects. Thematic analyses of student responses found that students engaged in work on local environmental issues cultivated an appreciation for the natural world and an understanding of human-nature interdependence and the ties between the local environment and their communities’ health. Through taking action with others in their communities, students viewed themselves as contributors to their communities and started to form environmental identities in ways that are not traditionally measured. Findings point to the need for forms of environmental education that are contextually grounded and centered on environmental justice in urban areas.

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