Hasil untuk "Physical geography"

H. Boer, M. Mula, Josemir W Sander

C. Williamson, J. Saros, W. Vincent et al.

Dajun Dai

W. Sunarharum, David J. Williams, H. Smyth

Robert K. Colwell, T. Rangel

R. Janghorban, R. L. Roudsari, A. Taghipour

The most commonly used method for data collection in qualitative research is interviewing. With technology changes over the last few decades, the online interview has overcome time and financial constraints, geographical dispersion, and physical mobility boundaries, which have adversely affected onsite interviews. Skype as a synchronous online service offers researchers the possibility of conducting individual interviews as well as small focus groups, comparable to onsite types. This commentary presents the characteristics of the Skype interview as an alternative or supplemental choice to investigators who want to change their conventional approach of interviewing.

A. Ruiz-Linares, K. Adhikari, V. Acuña-Alonzo et al.

The current genetic makeup of Latin America has been shaped by a history of extensive admixture between Africans, Europeans and Native Americans, a process taking place within the context of extensive geographic and social stratification. We estimated individual ancestry proportions in a sample of 7,342 subjects ascertained in five countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, México and Perú). These individuals were also characterized for a range of physical appearance traits and for self-perception of ancestry. The geographic distribution of admixture proportions in this sample reveals extensive population structure, illustrating the continuing impact of demographic history on the genetic diversity of Latin America. Significant ancestry effects were detected for most phenotypes studied. However, ancestry generally explains only a modest proportion of total phenotypic variation. Genetically estimated and self-perceived ancestry correlate significantly, but certain physical attributes have a strong impact on self-perception and bias self-perception of ancestry relative to genetically estimated ancestry.

Olugbenga T. Fajemila, Tesleem O. Kolawole, Jorge E. Spangenberg et al.

The Mamu Formation is an important sedimentary unit within the Anambra Basin, southern Nigeria. The presence of coal seams and carbonaceous shales within this formation has implications on its hydrocarbon potential and paleoenvironment of deposition. This study integrated stable isotopes of organic carbon and total nitrogen (δ13Corg, δ15NTN) and palynology to characterize the depositional environment of the Mamu Shales located at the western flank of the Anambra Basin in Nigeria. The δ13Corg values ranged from -25.9 to -24.6‰ VPDB, while the δ15NTN values varied from 3.0 to 5.6‰ Air-N₂. Additionally, the carbon-to-nitrogen molar ratios (C/N) fell between 10.8 and 19.3. These findings suggest that the organic matter primarily originated from terrestrial C₃ grasses and trees. The range of TOC, HI and Tmax values suggested that these shales are good hydrocarbon source rocks. The palynomaceral (PM) assemblages were characterized by abundant, poorly sorted small and medium-sized PM-1 and PM-2, alongside relatively common lath-shaped PM-4. These assemblages were associated with lower occurrences of PM-3, structureless organic matter, and land-derived palynomorphs. Together, these observations indicate a predominantly terrestrial paleoenvironment marked by rainforest vegetation. From the δ15NTN values, it appears that symbiotic nitrogen-fixing plants served as the primary nitrogen source for the black shales, which formed in a continental marginal environment. Overall, our results suggest that the episodic incursions of the Trans-Saharan Seaway were minimal at the western flank of the basin, indicating a carbonate-starved paleoenvironment during the Late Cretaceous.

Jianliang Lin, Haowei Chen, Xianzhao He et al.

Study region: The Pearl River Estuary in southern China has strong monsoonal wet-dry discharge contrasts and extensive cascade reservoir regulation in its basin. Study focus: This study quantifies how reservoir-driven discharge re-partitioning affects the seasonality and multi-decadal evolution of tidal duration asymmetry (TDA; the difference between flood and ebb durations). To reveal the linkage between TDA and regulated discharge, we analyze 51 years (1966–2016) of water levels from 21 tide gauges and daily discharge from three upstream stations using a tidal skewness metric, non-stationary harmonic diagnostics, and trend analysis. New hydrological insights for the region: TDA shows significant seasonality, with higher skewness in the wet season (April–September) and lower skewness in the dry season (October–March), and a basin-wide trough in late June–early July when discharge peaks. The discharge-TDA relation is threshold-dependent: normalized skewness increases with normalized discharge up to ∼0.62 (∼12,550 m³/s) and decreases thereafter. Reservoir regulation reduced wet-season peak flows (−76.3 m³/s/yr) and increased dry-season baseflows (+16.5 m³/s/yr), attenuating seasonal TDA amplitude most strongly in river–tide transition reaches (−0.0036 /yr). Spatial differences indicate phase-controlled TDA seasonality upstream but amplitude-controlled seasonality downstream, consistent with shifts in dominant tidal interactions from K₁–O₁–M₂ to M₂–M₄. The threshold rule links managed discharge to seasonal TDA and supports basin-to-estuary flow management in regulated coastal rivers.

Xi Li, Chaoqun Wu, Jiapeng Lu et al.

BACKGROUND It is estimated that 4 million deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases each year in China. Comprehensive understanding about modifiable risk factors and how the risk differs across regions is needed to inform public health policies. We aimed to examine the geographical profile of cardiovascular disease risk across China. METHODS In this study, we analysed data from a nationwide, population-based screening project, which covered 152 rural counties and 100 urban districts from 31 provinces in China. Between Sept 1, 2015, and Nov 30, 2019, standardised measurements were taken from participants aged 35-75 years who had lived in the region for at least 6 of the preceding 12 months to collect information on blood pressure, blood lipids, blood glucose, physical activity, tobacco smoking, alcohol use, overweight or obesity, and intake frequencies of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and red meat. Individuals with a high risk of cardiovascular disease were identified according to medical history and WHO risk prediction charts. FINDINGS 983 476 individuals were included in this study. Among the participants included, 10·3% (95% CI 10·2-10·3) had a high cardiovascular disease risk after standardising age and sex, with a range of 3·1-24·9% across counties or districts. Among the seven regions in mainland China, the prevalence of high risk of cardiovascular disease was relatively high in northeast China (12·6% [12·4-12·8]) and north China (11·4% [11·3-11·6]), whereas it was low in south China (8·0% [7·8-8·2]). The geographical profiles of the 12 major cardiovascular disease risk factors were different. We found that the regions with high cardiovascular disease risk were facing challenges such as obesity and high blood pressure (north China) and consumption of unhealthy non-staple food (low intake of fruits and vegetables or high intake of red meat; northeast China). By contrast, south China-the region with the lowest cardiovascular disease risk-had the highest prevalence of unhealthy staple food (low intake of whole grains and beans), abnormal metabolism (glucose and lipid), and low physical activity in the country. INTERPRETATION Risk for cardiovascular diseases varies geographically, and the major contributing risk factors are different across regions in China. Hence, geographically targeted interventions are needed to mitigate the risk and reduce the burden in such a vast country. FUNDING Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, and National Health Commission of China.

Elaine Hoffimann, H. Barros, A. I. Ribeiro

Background: The provision of green spaces is an important health promotion strategy to encourage physical activity and to improve population health. Green space provision has to be based on the principle of equity. This study investigated the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in geographic accessibility and quality of green spaces across Porto neighbourhoods (Portugal). Methods: Accessibility was evaluated using a Geographic Information System and all the green spaces were audited using the Public Open Space Tool. Kendall’s tau-b correlation coefficients and ordinal regression were used to test whether socioeconomic differences in green space quality and accessibility were statistically significant. Results: Although the majority of the neighbourhoods had an accessible green space, mean distance to green space increased with neighbourhood deprivation. Additionally, green spaces in the more deprived neighbourhoods presented significantly more safety concerns, signs of damage, lack of equipment to engage in active leisure activities, and had significantly less amenities such as seating, toilets, cafés, etc. Conclusions: Residents from low socioeconomic positions seem to suffer from a double jeopardy; they lack both individual and community resources. Our results have important planning implications and might contribute to understanding why deprived communities have lower physical activity levels and poorer health.

Zdeněk Vašíček, Petr Skupien

Haploceratids from the Štramberk Limestones represent three genera Haploceras, Hypolissoceras, and Volanites. The most species reach genus is Haploceras. The semi-involute shells of the local haploceratids are almost smooth or only with a specific sculpture bound to the ventral region near the peristome. The whorls tend to be weakly arched or flat. Statistical elaboration of H/D, U/D and B/D values during shell growth shows no significant differences between these values, except perhaps for U/D. The external morphology plays a decisive role in the generic and species identification of haploceratids. It is known that haploceratids form dimorphic pairs, as evidenced by the differently shaped peristomes in addition to the different shell sizes. Dimorphic pairs have been demonstrated as new in the Štramberk material for the pairs Haploceras staszycii (microconch, m) and Haploceras elimatum (macroconch, M), as well as Hypolissoceras carachtheis (m) and Hypolissoceras woehleri (M). Haploceras tithonium and Volanites verrucosus possessed dimorphic pairs but their counterparts have not been found in the Štramberk Limestone. With the exception of Volanites verruciferus, the species described here are of no stratigraphical importance. Their stratigraphic range is from the lower Tithonian to the lower Berriasian.

Quanling Deng, Nan Chen, Samuel N. Stechmann et al.

Abstract Lagrangian trajectories are widely used as observations for recovering the underlying flow field via Lagrangian data assimilation (DA). However, the strong nonlinearity in the observational process and the high dimensionality of the problems often cause challenges in applying standard Lagrangian DA. In this paper, a Lagrangian‐Eulerian multiscale DA (LEMDA) framework is developed. It starts with exploiting the Boltzmann kinetic description of the particle dynamics to derive a set of continuum equations, which characterize the statistical quantities of particle motions at fixed grids and serve as Eulerian observations. Despite the nonlinearity in the continuum equations and the processes of Lagrangian observations, the time evolution of the posterior distribution from LEMDA can be written down using closed analytic formulas after applying the stochastic surrogate model to describe the flow field. This offers an exact and efficient way of carrying out DA, which avoids using ensemble approximations and the associated tunings. The analytically solvable properties also facilitate the derivation of an effective reduced‐order Lagrangian DA scheme that further enhances computational efficiency. The Lagrangian DA part within the framework has advantages when a moderate number of particles is used, while the Eulerian DA part can effectively save computational costs when the number of particle observations becomes large. The Eulerian DA part is also valuable when particles collide, such as using sea ice floe trajectories as observations. LEMDA naturally applies to multiscale turbulent flow fields, where the Eulerian DA part recovers the large‐scale structures, and the Lagrangian DA part efficiently resolves the small‐scale features in each grid cell via parallel computing. Numerical experiments demonstrate the skillful results of LEMDA and its two components.

António Campar de Almeida

A presente nota destinava-se inicialmente ao livro de homenagem à professora Doutora Maria Assunção Araújo. Dado o protelamento sine die da publicação do livro resolvi propô-lo para os Cadernos de Geografia. O texto iniciava-se com o seguinte parágrafo: “Quando na década de 80 do último século, e depois de discutida a dissertação de mestrado, me foi proposto estudar uma área do litoral da Figueira da Foz com a finalidade de elaborar a minha tese de doutoramento, uma das primeiras pessoas com quem fui falar foi a Professora Assunção Araújo, então em fase bem mais adiantada da sua tese de doutoramento, precisamente sobre o litoral da região do Porto. As perspetivas de abordagem das respetivas investigações eram diferentes, mas há sempre algo que se cruza ou sobrepõe e, tendo sido já pensado, ajuda sempre a rasgar os primeiros trilhos a quem se inicia e assim aconteceu. Muito lhe agradeço essa conversa inicial e a abertura de espírito que sempre mostrou ao longo da sua vida.”

Laura Middleton, Vanessa Vucea-Tirabassi, Grace Liu et al.

There is growing evidence to suggest that lifestyle initiatives promote brain health and reduce dementia risk. However, there is comparatively limited research focused on lifestyle interventions among people living with dementia. Most recent systematic reviews of lifestyle interventions among people living with dementia centre on the impact of exercise on cognition; yet, functional abilities and quality of life are most consistently prioritized by people living with dementia, care partners, and healthcare professionals. There is insufficient evidence to inform guidelines on effective lifestyle interventions, programs, resources, and policies for people living with dementia. To address this knowledge gap, the objective of this study is to perform a systematic review to understand the impact of lifestyle interventions among people living with dementia. The specific research questions are: "What is the effectiveness of physical activity interventions on improving functional abilities and quality of life among community-dwelling people living with dementia?", "What is the effectiveness of healthy eating/nutrition on improving nutritional status or quality of life among community-dwelling people living with dementia?" and "Does the effectiveness of interventions vary depending on the components (single or multi), setting (in-home or community centre, geography), program structure, mode of delivery, dosage, and participant characteristics (sex/gender, ethno-cultural or language group, race, dementia type)?" The results from this review will inform recommendations of lifestyle interventions and their delivery among people living with dementia in the community. Trial registration: Systematic review registration PROSPERO #CRD42024509408.

Arslan Munir, Prasanna Kansakar, S. Khan

Liudmyla Niemets, Kateryna Sehida, Pavlo Kobylin et al.

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the integrative role of human geography based on the information-synergistic paradigm and UN materials on sustainable development in solving global problems of the 21st century. Results. The analysis of previous studies and the relevance of the chosen research topic indicate the high place of geography in general and human geography in particular. Such an analysis indicates of the importance of the raised topic and the integrative role of human geography in the leading universities of the world, which determines its important worldview, mental and cultural role in society. It can ensure the survival of the contemporary civilization of our planet and ensure the right for future generations to live and evolve in favorable conditions of the biosphere. More and more scholars are advocating the importance of geography as an integrative discipline and a leader in providing education for sustainable development. The article presents the integrative role of human geography in solving the global problems of present, namely the interaction in the system "Human - Society - Nature". The article provides a thorough analysis of the main UN documents on the implementation of the strategy of sustainable development in the life activity of society and the education system. Human-geographical science and education are considered from the standpoint of the tasks of post-non-classical science of the 21st century. The article describes the formation of the foundations of education for sustainable development, which should be anticipatory in nature, widespread in various regions of the planet with the support of all countries of the world. The article defines the essence of post-non-classical science, the role of individual sciences in solving the global problems of present and the place of human geography in it. The concept of the information revolution of the contemporary world, the role of sciences in it, in particular information geography, is justified. The article provides a detailed overview of the development of human geography in the leading universities of the world and Ukraine and analyzes the their research areas. The analysis of educational problems of human geography in Ukraine and V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University was carried out. An analysis was conducted to reveal the features of the structure, content, methods and methodology of human geography in the leading countries of the world, Ukraine and at our university. The article states that the main trends of the world's leading universities regarding the development, place and role of humam geography as a complex science of human, society, and nature are powerfully implemented in our university. It is also stated that human geography has a powerful meaning, because it should contribute through its research and educational programs to the formation of the foundations of a global mentality, the basic conditions of global culture in particular. Based on the conducted research, the article presents the main points of development of human geography, in particular in Ukraine, to ensure its integrative role in plans for the future development of the planet in terms of the sustainable development requirements. Taking into account the modern demand for the integration of scientific research and the necessary changes in the education system, this study reveals the role of human geography as an integrative science and education in accordance with the requirements of sustainable development and overcoming global problems of civilization.

L. Fischer, J. Honold, Alexandra Botzat et al.

S. Ramachandran, S. Ramachandran, Maheswar Rupakheti et al.

The state of air pollution has historically been tightly linked to how we produce and use energy. Air pollutant emissions over Asia are now changing rapidly due to cleaner energy transitions; however, magnitudes of benefits for climate and air quality remain poorly quantified. The associated risks involve adverse health impacts, reduced agricultural yields, reduced freshwater availability, contributions to climate change, and economic costs. We focus particularly on climate benefits of energy transitions by making first-time use of two decades of high quality observations of atmospheric loading of light-absorbing black carbon (BC) over Kanpur (South Asia) and Beijing (East Asia) and relating these observations to changing energy, emissions, and economic trends in India and China. Our analysis reveals that absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) due to BC has decreased substantially, by 40% over Kanpur and 60% over Beijing between 2001 and 2017, and thus became decoupled from regional economic growth. Furthermore, the resultant decrease in BC emissions and BC AAOD over Asia is regionally coherent and occurs primarily due to transitions into cleaner energies (both renewables and fossil fuels) and not due to the decrease in primary energy supply or decrease in use of fossil use and biofuels and waste. Model simulations show that BC aerosols alone contribute about half of the surface temperature change (warming) of the total forcing due to greenhouse gases, natural and internal variability, and aerosols, thus clearly revealing the climate benefits due to a reduction in BC emissions, which would significantly reduce global warming. However, this modeling study excludes responses from natural variability, circulation, and sea ice responses, which cause relatively strong temperature fluctuations that may mask signals from BC aerosols. Our findings show additional benefits for climate (beyond benefits of CO2 reduction) and for several other issues of sustainability over South and East Asia, provide motivation for ongoing cleaner energy production, and consumption transitions, especially when they are associated with reduced emissions of air pollutants. Such an analysis connecting the trends in energy transitions and aerosol absorption loading, unavailable so far, is crucial for simulating the aerosol climate impacts over Asia which is quite uncertain.

Lukáš Brodský, Vít Vilímek, Miroslav Šobr et al.

Supraglacial lakes (SGL) are a specific phenomenon of glaciers. They are important for ice dynamics, surface mass balance, and surface hydrology, especially during ongoing climate changes. The important characteristics of lakes are their water storage and drainage. Satellite-based remote sensing is commonly used not only to monitor the area but also to estimate the depth and volume of lakes, which is the basis for long-term spatiotemporal analysis of these phenomena. Lake depth retrieval from optical data using a physical model requires several basic assumptions such as, for instance, the water has little or no dissolved or suspended matter. Several authors using these assumptions state that they are also potential weaknesses, which remain unquantified in the literature. The objective of this study is to quantify the effect of maximum detectable lake depth for water with non-zero suspended particulate matter (SPM). We collected in-situ concurrent measurements of hyperspectral and lake depth observations to a depth of 8 m. Additionally, we collected water samples to measure the concentration of SPM. The results of empirical and physically based models proved that a good relationship still exists between the water spectra of SGL and the lake depth in the presence of 48 mg/L of SPM. The root mean squared error for the models ranged from 0.163 m (Partial Least Squares Regression—PLSR model) to 0.243 m (physically based model), which is consistent with the published literature. However, the SPM limited the maximum detectable depth to approximately 3 m. This maximum detectable depth was also confirmed by the theoretical concept of Philpot (1989). The maximum detectable depth decreases exponentially with an increase in the water attenuation coefficient g, which directly depends on the water properties.