Experiences with virtual schools on “Climate data for impact assessments”

The provision of climate services to users is a fast developing field. In support of this development, the IS-ENES3 project, funded within the EC Horizon2020 program, organized three schools on &#8220;Climate data for impact assessments&#8221; in 2020 and 2021. In an Autumn school, a Spring school and a Summer school, climate scientists and impact scientists were brought together. An important aim of the schools was&#160;to enhance interaction between Vulnerability-Impact-Adaptation (VIA) researchers, climate services providers and climate researchers. Another aim was to provide an overview of information on climate modeling, climate data, impact modelling and climate services based on the work of the IS-ENE3 project.In the first three weeks a series of lectures was given, covering topics such as climate data and modelling, impact models, portals for accessing and processing climate data, setting-up impact assessments, and communication of results to stakeholders. In the last three weeks the participants worked in small groups of one climate scientist with one impact scientist on a case study under the guidance of the course lecturers. Impact and climate researchers were combined on purpose to let them experience how they could help each other.Originally the schools were planned to take place on-site (e.g. in Prague) during one week; however, due to COVID-19 the schools had to be transformed to virtual schools with two weekly sessions during six weeks. Although the virtual set-up had some disadvantages (e.g. less possibilities for networking), there were also some advantages (e.g. the possibility to record the lectures and make them available to a broader audience; more time to explore and work with climate data in between the sessions, no CO2 emissions for travelling). During this presentation we will present the set-up of the schools and the conversion to a virtual school. We will focus on the lessons learnt and the evaluation of the virtual schools by the participants and give some recommendations for similar schools and how to link the climate and VIA research communities .

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Epidemic waves in relief against a structured climatic background

10.5194/dach2022-85 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Carl

Keyword(s):

Climate Modeling ◽

Sunshine Duration ◽

Climate Data ◽

Data Set ◽

Seir Model ◽

Epidemic Curve ◽

Surface Climate ◽

Spatially Distributed

For directly transmissible infectious diseases, seasonality in the course of epidemics may manifest in four major ways: susceptibility of the hosts, their individual and collective behavior, transmissibility of the pathogen, and survival of the latter under evolving environmental conditions. Mechanisms and concepts are not finally settled, notably in a pandemic setting. Climatic seasonality by itself is an aggregate, structured phenomenon that provides a spatially distributed background to the epidemic outbreak and its evolution at multiple timescales. Using advanced methods of data and systems analysis, including epidemiological and climate modeling, the RKI data of the COVID-19 epidemic curve for Berlin and a five-parameter climate data set of the nearby station Lindenberg (Mark) are analyzed in daily resolution over the period March 2020 to October 2021. Aimed to identify extrinsic impacts due to organized intraseasonal climate dynamics, as seen in sunshine duration and surface climate (pressure, temperature, humidity, wind), on intrinsic dynamics of the epidemic system, an established (SEIR) model of the latter and modifications thereof have been subjected to in-depth studies with a view on both genesis and timing of epidemic waves and their potential synchronization with climatic background dynamics. Starting with a case study for the spring 2020 period of shutdown, which unveils remarkable synchronies with the seasonal transition, estimates are given and applied to the follow-up period of individual and combined impacts of climate variables on the SEIR model in different oscillatory (non-equilibrium, lately endemic) regimes of operation.

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MED-GOLD Living Lab 2020: the story of an online training event

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9904 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alessandro Dell'Aquila ◽

Sandro Calmanti ◽

Luigi Ponti ◽

Marta Bruno Soares ◽

Massimiliano Pasqui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Summer School ◽

Early Career ◽

Multidisciplinary Teams ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Services ◽

Living Lab ◽

Wide Range ◽

Training Event ◽

On Line

The H2020 MED-GOLD Living Lab &#8221;Turning climate information into value for traditional Mediterranean agri-food systems&#8221; was implemented as a solution to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions. Originally planned as a summer school in Cagliari in Italy, this training event was held online over five weeks between May and June 2020. This work describes the main features of the MED-GOLD Living Lab 2020, including the necessary steps and the strategy adopted to turn the originally planned physical summer school into an online event.&#160;The MED-GOLD Living Lab 2020 was dedicated to early career scientists and professionals in the areas of climate science, agriculture, economy, social sciences and communication. The Living Lab has been conducted as an on-line event for five weeks, from May 25 to June 25, with weekly interactive webinars by speakers across different disciplines and on-line working groups with multidisciplinary teams, supported by scientists from the MED-GOLD experts as mentors.Participants have been challenged by real users of climate information to develop prototype climate services for the agri-food sector, building on the knowledge and skills shared during the event.Early career scientists and professionals with a wide range of individual profiles have been encouraged to apply and join the multidisciplinary teams: climate scientists, agronomists, software developers (R, Python), economists, social scientists, communication and visual communication experts.The purpose of the Living Lab was to demonstrate to the participants the MED-GOLD concepts and methodologies to develop climate services as well as become familiar with climate data and tools made available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS).An online feedback form was distributed to participants in the last day of the living lab. Overall the feedback received was very positive with all respondents stating that they would recommend this living lab to others. The majority of respondents were positive about the overall content, design and delivery of the living lab.&#160;However, the interactive aspects of the Living Lab could be further improved not only to ensure that the interactions between participants (e.g. to pursue their work group are effective but also in terms of ensuring that the time at which the living lab runs fits with participants&#8217; own commitments. Potential ways of overcoming these could be to e.g. allocate a specific slot during the living lab programme for group work as well as to identify specific dates/time slots to run future living labs together with participants.The majority enjoyed the opportunity to engage with real-problems and stakeholders, working in multidisciplinary teams and engaging with experts in climate services.Taking into account the circumstances of the COVID-19 emergency and based on the feedback by the participants, the Living lab was a&#160; successful experiment that could be replicated and further enhanced for the second training event, MED-GOLD Living Lab 2021 planned for late spring 2021.

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What methods of interaction with users have proved to better perform for advanced co-development of climate services in the water sector?

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-13594 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

María José Polo ◽

Rafael Pimentel ◽

María José Pérez-Palazón ◽

Pedro Torralbo ◽

Little Lorna ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Scenarios ◽

Climate Data ◽

Water Sector ◽

Online Surveys ◽

Climate Services ◽

Climate Service ◽

Development Approach ◽

Adequate Communication ◽

Key Questions

A wide offer of climate data sources/services is currently available dealing with future climate scenarios and projections. A huge effort has been done at European scale to promote and share openly this information. However, their use is not extensive and their potential is frequently underexploited. There is usually a significant gap between the complexity of climate metadata and the users&#8217; capability of exploiting them. Furthermore, this gap is also found between the expertise of climate data providers and the every-day operation of the different potentially interested end-users. Additionally, in some sectors users are not aware of climate service capabilities which prevent them from valuing and then demanding such services.In this context, co-development improves and fosters climate services&#8217; usability and uptake when compared to a traditional one-side development approach, since it best meets users&#8217; needs and demands. However, co-development can be time-consuming for both sides and less effective than expected if an adequate communication design is missing. In this context, what methods of interaction with users have proved to better perform for advanced co-development of climate services? And, what factors have best motivated users to interact? are key questions to provide guidelines and profit from the on-going initiatives.Three different approaches with users (mainly in the water sector) were tested: guided online surveys (anonymous users); focus groups (users known to different partners in the project); case study clients (users regularly interact with project partners). Indicators and metrics were used to evaluate and value the contribution from each group in the context of co-development of climate services that give future projections of water availability. The results of this comparison provide a conceptual framework to design and apply co-development strategies for climate services oriented to different groups within the water sector.This work was funded by the project AQUACLEW, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Commission [Grant 690462].

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Real-Time Virtual Teaching: Lessons Learned From a Case Study in a Rural School

Online Learning ◽

10.24059/olj.v19i5.705 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Michael K. Barbour

Keyword(s):

Newfoundland And Labrador ◽

Rural School ◽

Virtual Schools ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Virtual School ◽

Student Experiences ◽

Online Student ◽

School Programs ◽

Virtual School Programs

Due to the challenges facing rural schools, many jurisdictions have resorted to the use of virtual school programs to provide curricular opportunities to their students. While the number of virtual schools that rely on synchronous instruction as a primary or significant method of delivery is quite small, there are some programs that do (and a growing number of virtual schools that use it with small groups or individuals). This case study examined the use of synchronous online instruction by one virtual school with students in a single rural school in Newfoundland and Labrador. The data from a variety of collection methods revealed three themes: similarities with online student experiences and their traditional classroom experiences, the development of local learning communities, and the preference for students to use chat over audio.

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A Case Study on Perspectives of University Students on Summer School of College English Through Qualitative Study

The Journal of Humanities and Social sciences 21 ◽

10.22143/hss21.10.3.38 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 537-552

Author(s):

Miyoung Shin

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

University Students ◽

Summer School ◽

College English

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Reimagining School Nursing: Lessons Learned From a Virtual School Nurse

NASN School Nurse ◽

10.1177/1942602x21996432 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1942602X2199643

Author(s):

Bill Marrapese ◽

Jenny M. Gormley ◽

Kristen Deschene

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Virtual World ◽

School Nurses ◽

Virtual Schools ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Virtual School ◽

School Nursing ◽

Job Description ◽

Brick And Mortar ◽

Ongoing Support

The COVID-19 pandemic has required thousands of public schools to quickly adapt to hybrid or fully remote models. These new models have presented unprecedented challenges for school nurses as they learn how to optimize their interactions with parents and students to provide ongoing support and monitoring of health. The growing reliance on virtual and hybrid public education is also placing new demands on school nurses to be versed in telehealth and school physicians to support their work. Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School (GCVS) and other public virtual schools have been meeting these challenges for many years prior to the pandemic and have “lessons learned” to share with traditional “brick-and-mortar” nursing staff. GCVS students benefit from a climate that rewards collaboration between the health team, parents, teachers, and administrators, and this article will describe the role, job description, and other practices related to school nursing in a primarily virtual world.

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Towards Zero Emissions Noosa

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11174679 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (17) ◽

pp. 4679

Author(s):

Carina Anderson ◽

Robert Passey ◽

Jeremy De Valck ◽

Rakibuzzaman Shah

Keyword(s):

Community Engagement ◽

Focal Point ◽

Contextual Information ◽

Renewable Electricity ◽

Community Group ◽

Course Of Action ◽

Engagement Process ◽

Set Up ◽

External Consultant

This paper reports on a case study of the community group Zero Emissions Noosa, whose goal is for 100% renewable electricity in the Noosa Shire (Queensland, Australia) by 2026. Described within this paper are the processes used by Zero Emissions Noosa to set up their zero emissions plan, involving community engagement and the use of an external consultant. The external consultant was employed to produce a detailed report outlining how to successfully achieve zero emissions from electricity in the Noosa Shire by 2026. This paper explains how and why the community engagement process used to produce the report was just as important as the outcomes of the report itself. Modeling was undertaken, and both detailed and contextual information was provided. Inclusion of the community in developing the scenario parameters for the modeling had a number of benefits including establishing the context within which their actions would occur and focusing their efforts on options that were technically feasible, financially viable and within their capabilities to implement. This provided a focal point for the community in calling meetings and contacting stakeholders. Rather than prescribing a particular course of action, it also resulted in a toolbox of options, a range of possible solutions that is flexible enough to fit into whatever actions are preferred by the community. The approach and outcomes discussed in this paper should, therefore, be useful to other communities with similar carbon emission reduction goals.

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Missiological implications for Taylor Seminary arising from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations

Missiology An International Review ◽

10.1177/0091829617712579 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 407-413

Author(s):

Allan Effa

Keyword(s):

First Nations ◽

Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽

Final Report ◽

Cooperative Effort ◽

Truth And Reconciliation ◽

Cultural Genocide ◽

The Government ◽

Government Of Canada ◽

Set Up

In 2015 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded a six-year process of listening to the stories of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. More than 6000 witnesses came forth to share their personal experiences in listening sessions set up all across the country. These stories primarily revolved around their experience of abuse and cultural genocide through more than 100 years of Residential Schools, which were operated in a cooperative effort between churches and the government of Canada. The Commission’s Final Report includes 94 calls to action with paragraph #60 directed specifically to seminaries. This paper is a case study of how Taylor Seminary, in Edmonton, is seeking to engage with this directive. It explores the changes made in the curriculum, particularly in the teaching of missiology, and highlights some of the ways the seminary community is learning about aboriginal spirituality and the history and legacy of the missionary methods that have created conflict and pain in Canadian society.

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Regional biogeographical model of vegetation zones in doctoral programme Regional Biography in Olomouc (Case study for Norway spruce)

(Teaching) Regional Geography. Proceedings of 27th Central European Conference. 17th October 2019, Brno ◽

10.5817/cz.muni.p210-9694-2020-11 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ivo Machar ◽

Marián Halás ◽

Zdeněk Opršal

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Climate Data ◽

Ecological Data ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Vegetation Zones ◽

Landscape Research

Regional climate changes impacts induce vegetation zones shift to higher altitudes in temperate landscape. This paper deals with applying of regional biogeography model of climate conditions for vegetation zones in Czechia to doctoral programme Regional Geography in Palacky University Olomouc. The model is based on general knowledge of landscape vegetation zonation. Climate data for model come from predicted validated climate database under RCP8.5 scenario since 2100. Ecological data are included in the Biogeography Register database (geobiocoenological data related to landscape for cadastral areas of the Czech Republic). Mathematical principles of modelling are based on set of software solutions with GIS. Students use the model in the frame of the course “Special Approaches to Landscape Research” not only for regional scenarios climate change impacts in landscape scale, but also for assessment of climate conditions for growing capability of agricultural crops or forest trees under climate change on regional level.

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