Research priorities in observing and modeling urban weather and climate

In 2007, the world reached the unprecedented milestone of half of its people living in cities, and that proportion is projected to be 60% in 2030. The combined effect of global climate change and rapid urban growth, accompanied by economic and industrial development, will likely make city residents more vulnerable to a number of urban environmental problems, including extreme weather and climate conditions, sea-level rise, poor public health and air quality, atmospheric transport of accidental or intentional releases of toxic material, and limited water resources. One fundamental aspect of predicting the future risks and defining mitigation strategies is to understand the weather and regional climate affected by cities. For this reason, dozens of researchers from many disciplines and nations attended the Urban Weather and Climate Workshop.1 Twenty-five students from Chinese universities and institutes also took part. The presentations by the workshop's participants span a wide range of topics, from the interaction between the urban climate and energy consumption in climate-change environments to the impact of urban areas on storms and local circulations, and from the impact of urbanization on the hydrological cycle to air quality and weather prediction.

Adaptation and yield of pigeonpea in different environments in Tanzania

Pigeonpea is grown in wide range of cropping systems and environments, both in East Africa and internationally. An important feature of adaptation to these diverse systems and environments is the timing of flowering and maturity. Most traditional cultivars grown in Tanzania are medium to late flowering types (> 150 days), although extra-early flowering cultivars are now available. The aim of the present investigation was to measure biomass (BY) and seed (SY) yield of a set of phenologically diverse cultivars to determine their adaptation to contrasting environments in Tanzania. Ten cultivars, from extra-early (60 days) to late (> 180 days) flowering, were planted at six locations varying in mean temperature, photoperiod and rainfall. Days to flowering (DTF) and maturity, and above-ground BY and SY at maturity, were measured. A stress index (ETr:ETm ratio, 100 = no stress) was computed for each site. Rainfall and the stress index at the different sites varied from 322 to 1297 mm and 57 to 89, respectively. Among cultivars, DTF varied from 55 to 320 days, the stress index from 3 to 98, BY from 700 to 25,000 kg ha(-1), and SY from 0 to 4000 kg ha(-1). The highest yielding environment was at Selian, where mean temperatures were favourable (19 degrees C) and no stress occurred. At all sites there was an optimum DTF, which for SY varied from < 100 to 150 days. The best adapted cultivars were ICP 7035, ICPL 90094, Kat 50 and QP37, which were all medium flowering (c. 150 day) types. Extra-early cultivars such as ICPL 86005 also showed considerable potential, especially in short-season environments. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and application of in vivo expression technology (IVET) for analysing microbial gene expression in complex environments

Establishing the mechanisms by which microbes interact with their environment, including eukaryotic hosts, is a major challenge that is essential for the economic utilisation of microbes and their products. Techniques for determining global gene expression profiles of microbes, such as microarray analyses, are often hampered by methodological restraints, particularly the recovery of bacterial transcripts (RNA) from complex mixtures and rapid degradation of RNA. A pioneering technology that avoids this problem is In Vivo Expression Technology (IVET). IVET is a 'promoter-trapping' methodology that can be used to capture nearly all bacterial promoters (genes) upregulated during a microbe-environment interaction. IVET is especially useful because there is virtually no limit to the type of environment used (examples to date include soil, oomycete, a host plant or animal) to select for active microbial promoters. Furthermore, IVET provides a powerful method to identify genes that are often overlooked during genomic annotation, and has proven to be a flexible technology that can provide even more information than identification of gene expression profiles. A derivative of IVET, termed resolvase-IVET (RIVET), can be used to provide spatio-temporal information about environment-specific gene expression. More recently, niche-specific genes captured during an IVET screen have been exploited to identify the regulatory mechanisms controlling their expression. Overall, IVET and its various spin-offs have proven to be a valuable and robust set of tools for analysing microbial gene expression in complex environments and providing new targets for biotechnological development.

Assessment of projected changes in upland environments using simple climatic indices

Climate controls upland habitats, soils and their associated ecosystem services; therefore, understanding possible changes in upland climatic conditions can provide a rapid assessment of climatic vulnerability over the next century. We used 3 different climatic indices that were optimised to fit the upland area classified by the EU as a Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) 1961–1990. Upland areas within the SDA covered all altitudinal ranges, whereas the maximum altitude of lowland areas outside of the SDA was ca. 300 m. In general, the climatic index based on the ratio between annual accumulated temperature (as a measure of growing season length) and annual precipitation predicted 96% of the SDA mapped area, which was slightly better than those indices based on annual or seasonal water deficit. Overall, all climatic indices showed that upland environments were exposed to some degree of change by 2071–2100 under UKCIP02 climate projections for high and low emissions scenarios. The projected area declined by 13 to 51% across 3 indices for the low emissions scenario and by 24 to 84% for the high emissions scenario. Mean altitude of the upland area increased by +11 to +86 m for the low scenario and +21 to +178 m for the high scenario. Low altitude areas in eastern and southern Great Britain were most vulnerable to change. These projected climatic changes are likely to affect upland habitat composition, long-term soil carbon storage and wider ecosystem service provision, although it is not yet possible to determine the rate at which this might occur.

Lessons from the private finance initiative in the UK: benefits, problems and critical success factors

Purpose – This paper summarises the main research findings from a detailed, qualitative set of structured interviews and case studies of private finance initiative (PFI) schemes in the UK, which involve the construction of built facilities. The research, which was funded by the Foundation for the Built Environment, examines the emergence of PFI in the UK. Benefits and problems in the PFI process are investigated. Best practice, the key critical factors for success, and lessons for the future are also analysed. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based around 11 semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders in key PFI projects in the UK. Findings – The research demonstrates that value for money and risk transfer are key success criteria. High procurement and transaction costs are a feature of PFI projects, and the large-scale nature of PFI projects frequently acts as barrier to entry. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a limited number of in-depth case study interviews. The paper also shows that further research is needed to find better ways to measure these concepts empirically. Practical implications – The paper is important in highlighting four main areas of practical improvement in the PFI process: value for money assessment; establishing end-user needs; developing competitive markets and developing appropriate skills in the public sector. Originality/value – The paper examines the drivers, barriers and critical success factors for PFI in the UK for the first time in detail and will be of value to property investors, financiers, and others involved in the PFI process.

Toward vicarious calibration of microwave remote-sensing satellites in arid environments

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite marks the commencement of dedicated global surface soil moisture missions, and the first mission to make passive microwave observations at L-band. On-orbit calibration is an essential part of the instrument calibration strategy, but on-board beam-filling targets are not practical for such large apertures. Therefore, areas to serve as vicarious calibration targets need to be identified. Such sites can only be identified through field experiments including both in situ and airborne measurements. For this purpose, two field experiments were performed in central Australia. Three areas are studied as follows: 1) Lake Eyre, a typically dry salt lake; 2) Wirrangula Hill, with sparse vegetation and a dense cover of surface rock; and 3) Simpson Desert, characterized by dry sand dunes. Of those sites, only Wirrangula Hill and the Simpson Desert are found to be potentially suitable targets, as they have a spatial variation in brightness temperatures of <4 K under normal conditions. However, some limitations are observed for the Simpson Desert, where a bias of 15 K in vertical and 20 K in horizontal polarization exists between model predictions and observations, suggesting a lack of understanding of the underlying physics in this environment. Subsequent comparison with model predictions indicates a SMOS bias of 5 K in vertical and 11 K in horizontal polarization, and an unbiased root mean square difference of 10 K in both polarizations for Wirrangula Hill. Most importantly, the SMOS observations show that the brightness temperature evolution is dominated by regular seasonal patterns and that precipitation events have only little impact.

Characterization of energy flux partitioning in urban environments: links with surface seasonal properties

A better understanding of links between the properties of the urban environment and the exchange to the atmosphere is central to a wide range of applications. The numerous measurements of surface energy balance data in urban areas enable intercomparison of observed fluxes from distinct environments. This study analyzes a large database in two new ways. First, instead of normalizing fluxes using net all-wave radiation only the incoming radiative fluxes are used, to remove the surface attributes from the denominator. Second, because data are now available year-round, indices are developed to characterize the fraction of the surface (built; vegetation) actively engaged in energy exchanges. These account for shading patterns within city streets and seasonal changes in vegetation phenology; their impact on the partitioning of the incoming radiation is analyzed. Data from 19 sites in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia (including 6-yr-long observation campaigns) are used to derive generalized surface–flux relations. The midday-period outgoing radiative fraction decreases with an increasing total active surface index, the stored energy fraction increases with an active built index, and the latent heat fraction increases with an active vegetated index. Parameterizations of these energy exchange ratios as a function of the surface indices [i.e., the Flux Ratio–Active Index Surface Exchange (FRAISE) scheme] are developed. These are used to define four urban zones that characterize energy partitioning on the basis of their active surface indices. An independent evaluation of FRAISE, using three additional sites from the Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE), yields accurate predictions of the midday flux partitioning at each location.

Data stream mining in ubiquitous environments: state-of-the-art and current directions

In this article, we review the state-of-the-art techniques in mining data streams for mobile and ubiquitous environments. We start the review with a concise background of data stream processing, presenting the building blocks for mining data streams. In a wide range of applications, data streams are required to be processed on small ubiquitous devices like smartphones and sensor devices. Mobile and ubiquitous data mining target these applications with tailored techniques and approaches addressing scarcity of resources and mobility issues. Two categories can be identified for mobile and ubiquitous mining of streaming data: single-node and distributed. This survey will cover both categories. Mining mobile and ubiquitous data require algorithms with the ability to monitor and adapt the working conditions to the available computational resources. We identify the key characteristics of these algorithms and present illustrative applications. Distributed data stream mining in the mobile environment is then discussed, presenting the Pocket Data Mining framework. Mobility of users stimulates the adoption of context-awareness in this area of research. Context-awareness and collaboration are discussed in the Collaborative Data Stream Mining, where agents share knowledge to learn adaptive accurate models.

Record of natural and anthropogenic changes in reef environments (Barbados West Indies) using laser ablation ICP-MS and sclerochronology on coral cores

Coral growth rate can be affected by environmental parameters such as seawater temperature, depth, and light intensity. The natural reef environment is also disturbed by human influences such as anthropogenic pollutants, which in Barbados are released close to the reefs. Here we describe a relatively new method of assessing the history of pollution and explain how these effects have influenced the coral communities off the west coast of Barbados. We evaluate the relative impact of both anthropogenic pollutants and natural stresses. Sclerochronology documents framework and skeletal growth rate and records pollution history (recorded as reduced growth) for a suite of sampled Montastraea annularis coral cores. X-radiography shows annual growth band patterns of the corals extending back over several decades and indicates significantly lower growth rate in polluted sites. Results using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) on the whole sample (aragonite, organic matter, trapped particulate matter, etc.), have shown contrasting concentrations of the trace elements (Cu, Sn, Zn, and Pb) between corals at different locations and within a single coral. Deepwater corals 7 km apart, record different levels of Pb and Sn, suggesting that a current transported the metal pollution in the water. In addition, the 1995 hurricanes are associated with anomalous values for Sn and Cu from most sites. These are believed to result from dispersion of nearshore polluted water. We compared the concentrations of trace elements in the coral growth of particular years to those in the relevant contemporaneous seawater. Mean values for the concentration factor in the coral, relative to the water, ranged from 10 for Cu and Ni to 2.4 and 0.7 for Cd and Zn, respectively. Although the uncertainties are large (60-80%), the coral record enabled us to demonstrate the possibility of calculating a history of seawater pollution for these elements from the 1940s to 1997. Our values were much higher than those obtained from analysis of carefully cleaned coral aragonite; they demonstrate the incorporation of more contamination including that from particulate material as well as dissolved metals.

Analysis of Phytochemical Composition and Chemoprotective Capacity of Rocket (Eruca sativa and Diplotaxis tenuifolia) Leafy Salad Following Cultivation in Different Environments

Consumption of green leafy vegetables is associated with reduced risk of several types of cancer and cardiovascular disease. These beneficial effects are attributed to a range of phytochemicals including flavonoids and glucosinolates, both of which are found in high levels in Brassicaceous crops. Rocket is the general name attributed to cultivars of Eruca sativa and Diplotaxis tenufolia, known as salad rocket and wild rocket, respectively. We have shown that different light levels during the cultivation period of these crops have a significant impact on the levels of flavonoids present in the crop at harvest, with over 15-fold increase achieved in quercetin, isorhamnetin, and cyanidin in high light conditions. Postharvest storage further affects the levels of both flavonoids and glucosinolates, with cyanidin increasing during shelf life and some glucosinolates, such as glucoiberverin, being reduced over the same storage period. In vitro assays using human colon cell lines demonstrate that glucosinolate-rich extracts of Eruca sativa cv. Sky, but not Diplotaxis tenufolia cv. Voyager, confer significant resistance to oxidative stress on the cells, which is indicative of the chemoprotective properties of the leaves from this species. Our findings indicate that both pre and postharvest environment and genotypic selection, when developing new lines of Brassicaceous vegetables, are important considerations with the goal of improving human nutrition and health.