Evolution of Heat Index (HI) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) Index at Mumbai and Pune Cities, India

In the present study, trends in heat stress during summer and monsoon season months were assessed for two cities, Pune and Mumbai, for the period of 47 years from 1969 to2015 with the application of empirically derived Heat Index (HI) and rational heat balance based Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was applied to determine contributing meteorological parameters responsible for changes in heat stress incidences. The study reveals a considerable increase in heat stress during the summer months over Mumbai compared to Pune city. Similarly, during the end months of monsoon season, thermal discomfort conditions aggravate over both the cities, with statistically significant rising trends. The actual identification and categorization of thermally discomfortable days during the study period in accordance with the Heat Index were moderate. They remained consistent in Pune during summer, however, in monsoon, heat stress incidences were meager. While at Mumbai days with 'High' and 'Very High,' heat stress have increased towards recent years. Categorization according to PET index depicted conspicuous presence of 'Strong' and 'Extreme heat stress' at Pune, while at Mumbai, 'Warm' and 'Hot' days portrayeda slight increase. The assessment of meteorological parameters depicted that increased humidity and temperature were the main concern for the increase in heat stress over Mumbai. In contrast, mean radiant temperature, ambient air temperature with restricted wind speed leading to high sensible heat may be responsible for the significant increasing trend in PET. The study infers that both the cities are vulnerable to escalating heat stress and may have adverse implications on the health of city dwellers.

The role and the effects of the ozone paravertebral injections, in lumbar disc herniation patients.

The results obtained from a group of patients suffering from discoradicular conflict syndrome treated with paravertebral oxygen-ozone injections were analyzed. From a total number of 8500 patients treated with ozone during the period 2002/2015, 880 patients underwent intradiscal injection and 7620 patients were treated with paravertebral ozone injections. This paper analyses a subgroup of 1850 patients (24.28% of the patients who were treated with paravertebral injections), including those patients who underwent the total 10-session treatment, complied with a 5-year follow-up and with the sample homogeneity parameters following a predictability therapeutic effectiveness (PET) index devised for such purpose (PET index O3) by us in 2009. The outcomes were assessed based on the VAS score and modified Mac Nab criteria. Definite results determined positive post-treatment outcomes considered excellent and good in 81% of the cases. Such effectiveness percentage resulted lower than the one achieved with the intradiscal injection technique (89%), and higher than the percentage seen in papers on the selective nerve root block technique.

Biomimicry-Based Strategies for Urban Heat Island Mitigation: A Numerical Case Study under Tropical Climate

In recent years, demographic growth has caused cities to expand their urban areas, increasing the risk of overheating, creating insurmountable microclimatic conditions within the urban area, which is why studies have been carried out on the urban heat island effect (UHI) and its mitigation. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the cooling potential in the application of strategies based on biomimicry for the microclimate in a historical heritage city of Panama. For this, three case studies (base case, case 1, and case 2) of outdoor thermal comfort were evaluated, in which the Envi-met software was used to emulate and evaluate the thermal performance of these strategies during March (highest temperature month) and October (rainier month). The strategies used were extracted from the contrast of zebra skin, human skin, evaporative cooling, and ant skin. The results showed a reduction of 2.8 °C in the air temperature at 11:00, the radiant temperature decreased by 2.2 °C, and the PET index managed to reduce the thermal comfort indicator among its categories. The importance of thinking based on biomimicry in sustainable strategies is concluded; although significant changes were obtained, high risks of discomfort persist due to the layout and proximity of the building.

Thermal stress assessment for an Arctic city in summer

Despite the fact, that against the background of global warming the Russian Arctic is still a region with severe winters and cool summers; the likelihood of thermal stress conditions in summer is also increasing. At the same time, urban conditions can significantly affect the human heat perception due to the appearance of the urban heat island effect and other factors. Using the example of the city of Nadym (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), the authors have assessed the possibility of the summer urban heat stress occurrence and analyzed its spatial heterogeneity. The article presents the detailed modeling results of the meteorological regime of the city within the framework of the COSMO-CLM model and the assessment of bioclimatic comfort using the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) index and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). During periods of the extremely hot weather events in Nadym, the territory meso- and microclimatic mosaicism clearly manifests itself. In anthropogenically altered territories, the frequency of strong heat stress events can exceed that in the background areas by 1.7 times. Urban planning solutions should take into account not only the climatic resistance of Arctic cities to the winter cold, but also be adapted to the occurrence of summer heat.

Summer thermal comfort in Russian big cities (1966-2015)

The main goal of the study is the assessment of modern bioclimatic conditions (1966-2015) for determining the level of comfort in large Russian cities based on the observations at the meteorological stations, including Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) for the main extent of thermal comfort. According to the distribution of thermal stress events (calculated for meteorological fix hours, 8 times per day) the authors created the comfort diagram for each city during daytime heat wave period and evaluated their comfort conditions. In the current research we are operating with WMO climatic data for eleven biggest cities of the Russian Federation: from the European part (Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Voronezh, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Ufa) and from Siberia (Omsk and Krasnoyarsk). The most interesting result of the comparison of the long-period (50 years) urban trends (PET-index and Air Temperature) in different parts of Russia is its extraordinary cross-shaped form in Moscow (in other cities the trends lines are practically parallel to each other). It means that at the level of the average annual values, only in Moscow the PET index (and, hence, potentially the thermal stress) grows faster than the regional climate warms. In other cities this tendency is much weaker (N.Novgorod) or not significant. This interesting tendency is caused by both Moscow related urban planning dynamics in post-USSR period and by regional climate dynamics.

Evaluation of Biomimicry-based Strategies to Improve Exterior Environmental parameters: A numerical Study at Urban Scale in a tropical Climate

Due to population growth, cities have expanded their urban areas, causing increased temperatures and vegetative scarcity. Therefore, studies have been carried out on the urban heat island phenomenon, its effect on people’s thermal stress, and how to mitigate this problem. This research aims to evaluate the application of biomimetic strategies for improving exterior environmental conditions on an urban scale under a tropical climate through dynamic simulation. The case study takes place in the Casco Antiguo of Panama. Here, two cases were evaluated (base case and proposed case). The proposed case consists of strategies obtained from the application of the biomimetic design methodology. The ENVI-met software was used to evaluate both cases, where the external environmental parameters are compared between both cases for the critical months (March and October) at 15:00. Results showed that the air temperature reached an average reduction for March of 1.9 °C and 2 °C for October, the Tmr had an increase up to 0.6 °C in March and the PET index decreased 1.7 °C in March and in October 2 °C. Although significant changes were obtained, high levels of discomfort persist due to the narrowness and proximity of the buildings in this urban settlement.