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Background:  Epidemiologic studies show that high temperatures are related to mortality, but little is known about the exposure-response function and the lagged effect of heat. We report the associations between daily maximum apparent temperature and daily deaths during the warm season in 15 European cities. Methods:  The city-specific analyses were based on generalized estimating equations and the city-specific results were combined in a Bayesian random effects...

Learning from the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report to design future strategies for climate change research and observations was the key objective of a workshop organized jointly by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), and the International Geosphere‐ Biosphere Programme (IGBP) in Sydney, Australia. Some 66 key IPCC authors and other experts associated with the three international...

Learning from the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report to design future strategies for climate change research and observations was the key objective of a workshop organized jointly by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), and the International Geosphere‐ Biosphere Programme (IGBP) in Sydney, Australia. Some 66 key IPCC authors and other experts associated with the three international...

Indigenous fruits and vegetables are known to play major role in the nutritional livelihood of the Nigeria population especially in the rural areas where people cannot pay for meat, egg and milk. In the face of threats posed by climate change as exemplified by drastic changes in rainfall pattern, temperature, relative humidity, radiation, weeds-pests-diseases complex and general alterations in the trends of climatic elements, there is the need to discuss the future of the uncultivated but...

Understanding and dealing with the sources of problems of practice requires learning at both the interpersonal and organisational levels. The means for learning is the ability to engage in conversations that lead to problem clarification and collaborative commitment to change. When these problems are complex and manifest as dilemmas (with tensions between meeting organisational and individual needs) and impact on the quality of learning and teaching, educational leaders who focus on...

Biodiversity plays a decisive role in maintaining the ecological balance of the earth. Towards the end of the 20th century, humankind grew conscious of its unprecedented impact upon natural environments and the danger of exhausting biological resources. Therefore, biodiversity emerged as an environmental issue in the early 1980s, culminating in the Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. At the same time, biological diversity was recognized as an essential...

There is much documented material concerning human thermal comfort from the physiological, adaptive and social convention paradigms. Most of these studies have been conducted on limited-occupancy buildings, such as offices and institutions of higher learning in the northern hemisphere and parts of the ASEAN region; the subjects generally being adults and assumed to be in good health. In contrast, limited work appears to have been carried out in regularly occupied buildings like homes and in...

The pelagic fishes live most part of their life in the surface or subsurface waters. This group exhibits rich species diversity and abundance in the Indian EEZ. Though 240 species constitute the pelagic fisheries along the Indian coast, it is only about 60 species belonging to 8 groups support major fisheries (Table1). During the last decade, pelagic finfishes contributed to 46-56% (average: 51%) of the total marine fish production, of which almost 70% was fished from within the 50 m depth zone

The term ‘remote sensing’ implies feeling from a distance and applies to “the acquisition of information about a portion of the earth’s surface, utilizing instruments operated from a distance”. The term is restricted to the methods that employ electromagnetic energy such as light, heat and radio waves as the means of deflecting and measuring target characteristics. The physical basis of remote sensing is the platforms like aircraft and satellites. Operational types of remote sensing...

The neritic waters along the continental shelf of the Indian EEZ is endowed with a rich abode of demersal finfish resources contributing to about 27.5 % of the total marine landings of the country. The demersal finfishes represented by a total of 23 groups and 71 commercially important species by virtue of their multifarious uses contribute substantially both as a protein supplement and to the revenue generation of the nation. Besides, the island ecosystems of Lakshadweep and Andaman &...

Marine fisheries sector in India plays a significant role in Indian economy and provides livelihood security to about 3.5 million coastal rural folk living in 3200 marine fishing villages. The substantial growth of the sector is due to innovative and efficient fishing practices, government policies, well developed harvest and post-harvest infrastructure and increased demand for marine fish products in the domestic and international markets. The growing demand resulted in fishing effort...

With the development of modern computer technology, a large amount of building energy simulation tools is available in the market. When choosing which simulation tool to use in a project, the user must consider the tool's accuracy and reliability, considering the building information they have at hand, which will serve as input for the tool. This paper presents an approach towards assessing building performance simulation results to actual measurements, using artificial neural networks (ANN)...

Evergreen trees provide temperature sensors with shielding from solar radiation and an elevated location above the snowpack. Sensors were deployed with simple funnel radiation shields in the Sierra Nevada, California, and Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Compared with unaspirated, Gill‐shielded thermistors, inexpensive self‐recording temperature sensors hung in dense stands of trees have less than 0.8°C (0.4°C) mean difference in daily maximum (mean) temperature. In contrast, sensors in sparse and...

The authors conducted a systematic review of the studies of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost because of climate change. The review considered both methodological issues and research results. It found that little is known about DALYs lost because of climate change, except for results based on limited information presented in the World Health Organization (WHO) global-burden-of-disease study in 2002. The measurement of DALYs attributable to climate change presents additional...

The climate in Australia is one of the most variable in the world. Better understanding of this variability and applications of climate risk management are central to profitable and sustainable rural industries. Developments in climate science provide better understanding and forecasting of both between-year El Nino variability and long-term climate change. Climate risk management assesses the possible impacts of climate variability on rural businesses and the options available to mitigate...

The climate in Australia is one of the most variable in the world. Better understanding of this variability and applications of climate risk management are central to profitable and sustainable rural industries. Developments in climate science provide better understanding and forecasting of both between-year El Nino variability and long-term climate change. Climate risk management assesses the possible impacts of climate variability on rural businesses and the options available to mitigate...