Measurement and Scenario Simulation of Effect of Urbanisation on Regional CO_2 Emissions Based on UEC-SD Model:A Case Study in Liaoning Province,China

Based on the logical causal relationship and taking Liaoning Province, China, which is the Chinese traditional industrial base and is in the stage of accelerated urbanisation, as a case study, this study builds the ＇Urbanisation-Energy Consumption-COn Emissions System Dynamics （UEC-SD）＇ model using a system dynamics method. The UEC-SD model is applied to analyse the effect of the ar- banisation process on the regional energy structure and CO2 emissions, followed by simulation of future production and living energy consumption structure as well as the evolutionary trend of CO2 emissions of three urbanisation scenarios （low speed, intermediate speed and high speed） under the assumed boundary conditions in urban and rural areas of Liaoning Province, China. The results show that the urbanisation process can alter production and the living energy consumption structure and thereby change regional CO2 emissions. An increase in the urbanisation rate in case area will lead to regional COz emissions rising in the short term, but when the urbanisation rate approaches 80%, CO2 emissions will reach a peak value and then decrease. Comparison of different urbanisation rates showed that pro- duction and living energy consumption exhibit different directions of change and rules in urban and rural areas. The effect of urbanisa- tion on CO2 emissions and energy structure is not direct, and urbanisation can increase the differences in energy and CO2 emissions between urban and rural areas caused by the industrial structure, technical level and other factors.

Urbanisation and Economic Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The fundamental characteristics of urbanisation and economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 19th, and at the beginning of 20th century, have been discussed in the paper. The recent developmental urban processes have been considered through three groups of indicators： demographic, regional and socio-geographic development. Based on results of the surveys conducted in the regional economic centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011, a development of urban functions in the urban centres has been shown. It has been proved that the dominant tertiary activities have a big importance and an intensive influence on urban and economic development in all urban settlements. The research included a theoretical part within which the literature on urban and economic development of settlements has been searched. For needs of the research, eight economic centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina were chosen. Analysis of the obtained results shows a different level of urbanisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina with particularly separated larger and asymmetrically distributed urban centres： Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar, Banja Luka, Zenica, and Biha6. The mentioned urban and economic centres are distributed along the major traffic communications. The settlements in east and west part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which a traffic network is poorly developed, have a lower urbanisation level. The obtained data proved the existence of a traditional difference and a different level in development of particular regions and total economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Low urbanisation level of a large number of settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is in direct connection with economic development and density of those settlements. The achieved urbanisation level with an overall economic development is characteristic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the other countries in its surroundings as well.

Urbanisation Footprints and the Distribution of Air Quality in Nairobi City,Kenya

Various postulations on the relationship between urban morphology and air quality are qualitative.This fails to establish the strength of the contributions of each morphological parameter in the spatial distribution of the air quality.It is this gap in knowledge that this study sought to fill by modelling the correlation existing between the urban morphological variables of development density,land uses,biomass index and air quality values of Nairobi city.While 30 development zones of the city constituted the target population,IKONOS satellite imagery of the city for the year 2015 was utilised in establishing the development densities,land uses and biomass index.The parameters were transformed into numerical surrogates ranging from 1 to 10 with lower values accorded to zones with low biomass index,the highest development density,noxious land uses,high gaseous concentrations and vice-versa.Pearson’s correlation coefficients(r),coefficients of determination(R),t-tests and the Analysis of Variance(F-tests)with levels of significance being 95%were used to determine the strengths,significances and consistencies of the established relationships.The study established that development density is the most significant morphological variable influencing the distribution of air quality.This is followed by biomass index and to a weaker extent,land uses.

Planetary Urbanisation and the Built Heritage from a Non-Western Perspective: The Question of ‘How' We Should Protect the Past

The process of planetary urbanisation,which is currently affecting a large part of the world,impacts on the existing built environment in an unprecedented way.Its dramatic rapidity often implies the sudden disappearance of traditional urban and rural structures and the rapid transformation of local cultures.Contextually,as never before,attempts to protect culture in its tangible and intangible expressions are increasingly central to international agendas on sustainable urbanisation.However,this is by no means an easy task to achieve.The main reason for the controversy is that the consensus around the need to protect heritage and its tools,as formulated primarily in the Western world in the past,has changed.It has been challenged by alternative,non-Western,primarily non-materialistic views,or it has been delegitimised by the(often)exploitative practice of heritagisation,as a result of the process of protection itself.The main aim of this paper is to reflect on the implications of contemporary planetary urbanisation on the built heritage and its protection,considering that most of this process is taking place in fast-developing countries of Asia,Africa and South America and,at the same time,there is a redistribution of economic(and therefore cultural)power from the West to the East,and from the North to the South of the planet.

Dietary analysis of the House Swift(Apus nipalensis)in Hong Kong using prey DNA in faecal samples

Background:To understand the dietary composition of the highly aerial swift(Apodidae),ecologists conventionally depend on the morphological identification of prey items from food boluses or stomach contents,but these techniques are often invasive,require expertise in identification,and often cannot produce accurate identifications at the species level.Methods:DNA barcoding was used to analyse the dietary composition of House Swifts(Apus nipalensis)in Hong Kong,China.Faecal samples from five different colonial nest sites were collected between 2019 and 2020.We used universal primers to amplify a region of the cytochrome C oxidase gene from prey DNA in the faecal samples for identification purposes.Results:Ten different orders and 44 families from three different classes of Arthropoda were identified in the collected faecal samples.Hymenoptera,Hemiptera and Diptera were the most prevalent groups of prey found in the samples.Differences in the dietary composition of House Swifts during the breeding(April to September)and nonbreeding(October to March)season were also found.Hymenoptera,particularly ants(Formicidae),were predominant in the diet during the breeding season,whereas Diptera and Hemiptera were predominant during the non-breeding season.Conclusion:The prey groups identified in this study were similar to those identified in a previous study of the diet of House Swift,which also suggests a possible role of House Swifts in reducing the numbers of local insect pests.This study demonstrates the usefulness of applying molecular tools for the dietary analysis of aerial feeders.Conserving local forested areas may be crucial for the maintenance of House Swift population.

Deforestation and Habitat Loss: Human Causes, Consequences and Possible Solutions

Deforestation leads to habitat loss while preservation and conservation of the natural forest increase biological diversity.Multiple factors have been reported to be responsible for deforestation and habitat loss,which could either be of human or natural origin.Natural causes of deforestation could be as a result of forest fires,droughts,exotic animals,floods,overpopula­tion of foreign animals and climate change.That notwithstanding,human activities are among the principal causes of global deforestation and habitat loss with agricultural expansion,cattle breeding,timber extraction,mining,oil extraction,dam construction and infrastructure development as some examples of these human influences.This study identifies agricultural ac­tivities and urbanization as the chief causes of human induced deforestation and habitat loss on a large scale.The simple and more practicable approach to curb the already alarming effects of deforestation and habitat loss is through environmental education of everyone still surviving on our planet.Environmental education is the key to reversing continuous and deliberate human actions through the protection of every natural forest and afforesta­tion where necessary.

Comparison of Mosses as Bioindicator of Heavy Metal Pollution in Aramoko-Ekiti and Are-Ekiti, Nigeria

The increasing global concern over the public health impacts attributed to environmental pollution led us to investigate and compare the deposition of some heavy metals in mosses from an urban area, Aramoko Ekiti and a rural area, Are Ekiti. Both towns are located in the SouthWest, Nigeria. Moss samples were collected at different sites in the two towns. These samples were then digested in acid and analysed for Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cu, using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The results of the study show variations in the concentrations of the heavy metals among the different sites in each town as well as between the two towns. Apart from cd which was suspected to have originated from natural sources in the investigated samples, the relatively higher concentrations of the other metals in Aramoko-Ekiti suggests an important anthropogenic source which we suspect to be automobiles since there are little or no industrial or mining activities within the town. Furthermore, the relatively higher concentrations of the metals exhibited by moss samples collected around locations prone to higher traffic situations in the two towns such as roadsides, filling stations and garages stresses the significance of traffic density in heavy metal pollution of the environment. These places （filling stations and garages） should be sited far away from residential areas. Also, residences should be sited at considerably far distances from major roads. These will prevent the bioaccumulation of the heavy metals in residents. Though, the results show that Aramoko-Ekiti is more polluted with the heavy metals than Are-Ekiti, the concentration of the heavy metals were still within the permissible limits. Given the results of this work and similar ones, there is need to evaluate the pollution status of the environment from time to time especially the urban areas and high traffic areas.

The Effects of Future Climate Change on Energy Consumption in Residential Buildings in China

China is currently going through a phase of rapid mass urbanisation, and it is important to investigate how the growing built environment will cope with climate change, to see how the energy consumption of buildings in China will be affected. This is especially important for the fast-growing cities in the north, and around the east and south coasts. This paper aims to study the effects of future climate change on the energy consumption of buildings in the three main climate regions of China, namely the “Cold” region in the north, which includes Beijing;the “Hot Summer Cold Winter” region in the east, which includes cities such as Shanghai and Ningbo;and the “Hot Summer Mild Winter” region in the south, which includes Guangzhou. Using data from the climate model, HadCM3, Test Reference Years are generated for the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s, for various IPCC future scenarios. These are then used to access the energy performance of typical existing buildings, and also the effects of retrofitting them to the standard of the current building codes. It was found that although there are reductions in energy consumption for heating and cooling with retrofitting existing residential buildings to the current standard, the actual effects are very small compared with the extra energy consumption that comes as a result of future climate change. This is especially true for Guangzhou, which currently have very little heating load, so there is little benefit of the reduction in heating demand from climate change. The effects of retrofitting in Beijing are also limited, and only in Ningbo was the effect of retrofitting able to nullify the effects of climate change up to 2020s. More improvements in building standards in all three regions are required to significantly reduce the effects of future climate change, especially to beyond 2020s.

Emergence of Temple Centered Society in Early Bihar： Mundesvari Inscription a Case in Point

In the early medieval economic and social circumstances religious centers developed in Bihar, which further led to the construction of temples by the rulers as well as by the locally powerful communities. It must be noted that these temples were not as gigantic or of great artistic value either as compared to the Buddhist monasteries of contemporary Bihar. The reason behind this was probably the fact that the Buddhist monasteries were built by the state or supported directly by them as well as patronized by the rich business community. On the contrary, few of the Brahamanical structures were getting these advantages and they were having support of the local followers. From the various excavation and exploration reports by archaeologists, temple structures of this period have been reported very often. But the ancient historiography of Bihar obsessed with the Buddhist, Jaina and other heterodox monuments, has tended to just ignore it. The question why such a large number of temples came up during this period, which is spread over the whole of modem Bihar, particularly near the important Buddhist sites, was never posed. Moreover, the question why the Pala rulers who were known for their Buddhist inclination later extended critical support to Brahmans has also remained unaddressed.

Remote Sensing Applied to NDVI and LST in Urban Streets in Southern Brazil

Urban evolution becomes a space-transforming agent capable of changing Normalised Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)and Land Surface Temperature(LST)emissivity reflectance on the land surface.Therefore,this study identifies NDVI and LST variations locally,but it can also be applied in other cities on a global scale.In general,it aims to analyse NDVI and LST on surface areas of avenues and urban streets of Sector 1,located in downtown Passo Fundo,in the southern region of Brazil,from 2013 to 2020.Methodologically,treated Landsat 8 satellite images were used to obtain NDVI and LST variations in this study.Subsequently,data of 80 points in the avenues and streets of Sector 1 were collected over a distance of 100 meters spaced from each point.These data were statistically analysed concerning the dispersion of NDVI and LST from 2013 to 2020.The results revealed a strong interaction between NDVI and LST,demonstrating the need to conserve urban vegetation to improve temperature,which positively favours urban ambience indexes.

Resilience Techniques due to Cascading Water Effects in Informally Urbanised Hilly Terrains:A Case of Makongo and Goba-Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

The research was carried out in Dar es Salaam’s Makongo and Goba neighbourhoods using an exploratory method covering 200 questionnaires,100 for Goba and 100 for Makongo respectively.There were two significant issues observed:To begin,data from 2003 to 2017 reveal a large increase in urbanisation in both locations.Furthermore,urbanisation led to an increase in hard surface areas,which,according to the analysis,contributed to an increase in surface runoff,which had detrimental consequences for hilly residential settlements,resulting in downstream floods,building destruction,and loss of life and properties.Few residents were aware of water harvesting methods as a technique to deal with surface runoff,but they were not aware that they might be used to harvest water for future use.Policy to harvest,retain and use rainwater is recommended,whereby each plot owner should contain water from his/her plot by harvesting,collecting and retaining it for home use such as farming,fish ponds and other uses.

Urban Heat Island and Land Use/Cover Dynamics Evaluation in Enugu Urban, Nigeria

This study specifically estimated the effect of land use/cover change (LULC) processes on land surface temperature (LST) in Enugu urban and its suburbs. With Landsat images and supervised classification technique, four LULC classes comprising built-up areas, vegetation, rock outcrop, bare ground/farmland areas were delineated. The LST was extracted from the thermal bands of the images. The rate of change in land cover classes between 2009 and 2018 showed that from 2009 to 2013, built-up areas increased from 31.65% to about 47.5%, while vegetation cover decreased from 18.43% to 11.23%. Also, the periods witnessed about 8.69 km2 of vegetation being converted to other land surfaces. The trend in the LST in Enugu urban showed the highest mean temperatures of 34.5°C in 2018 and 32.26°C in 2015. However, in 2013 there was a slight decrease in mean LST to 31.65°C which further decreased to 31.26°C in 2009. This change in temperature suggests that urbanisation could have significant effect on the micro-climate of Enugu city. Result also revealed weak relationships between LULC classes and the LST throughout the years. The results of the surface heat intensity for the urban and rural areas showed general increase over the years and this suggests that rural areas are also experiencing high temperature which could be due to the loss of vegetation, increase in artificial surfaces and urban encroachment. Findings from this study could be useful for effective urban land-use planning, policy development and management in Nigeria, and elsewhere.

The Impact of Urban Noise on the Behavior of Two Mouse Species Belonging to the Genus Apodemus

Traffic noise was tested as a stress factor in an open-field study of urban and non-urban populations of two species belonging to the genus Apodemus: the striped field mouse and the yellow-necked mouse. The striped field mouse has inhabited green areas in cities for years, whereas the yellow-necked mouse was first observed in such areas relatively recently. Behavioral reactions to noise in the urban population of striped field mice were the same as the reactions observed in the non-urban population of the species. As for the yellow-necked mouse, behavior in response to noise in the non-urban population differed from that observed in the urban population. We see such differences as being related to the fact that striped field mice, which have inhabited urban areas for many generations, form a stable population in urban areas, and specific individuals are adapted to urban conditions. Yellow-necked mice, in turn, form no stable urban population and the individuals found in cities are most probably migrants, not adapted to urban conditions, which is the reason why their reaction to noise differs from the typical response.

A deeper understanding of the gut microbiota of different human races in search of disease specific microbial and metabolic biomarkers

Objective:Resident microorganisms live in dynamic harmony with their hosts to influence various physical and psychological health aspects.The majority of the resident microbes are found in the digestive tract,aka the gut of mammals.If and when perturbed,the composition of gut microbiota could jeopardize the physiological balance or homeostasis.In this article,we aim to establish how different diseases could be accompanied by notable changes in gut microbial composition and lend insight into microbial regulation of health.Methods:Literature search was done in PubMed using relevant keywords and summarized in tabular form as well as in narration.Results:We try to focus on the concept of microbial and metabolite biomarkers for diseases.We also try to capture the renewed perspective of good and harmful microorganisms in the context of host health.We have presented a comparative network analysis of microbial roles in select diseases.Recent findings also suggested that the growth of some traditionally disease-causing pathogenic microorganisms promotes health in other human communities.We have listed major taxa of gut microbes in communities worldwide,which signifies that gut microbiota can be healthy or harmful depending on the urbanization and ethnicity of the hosts.The traditional and current schools of thoughts are both limited by the technology of metagenomic studies;we have elucidated some of their shortcomings.Conclusion:Research in the field of gut microbiota must take into account the different populations and the changing narrative of healthy and harmful microbes.

Towards carbon neutrality and China's 14th Five-Year Plan: Clean energy transition, sustainable urban development, and investment priorities

China's 14th Five-Year Plan,for the period 2021e25,presents a real opportunity for China to link its longterm climate goals with its short-to medium-term social and economic development plans.China's recent commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 has set a clear direction for its economy,but requires ratcheting up ambition on its near-term climate policy.Against this background,this paper discusses major action areas for China's 14th Five-Year Plan after COVID-19,especially focusing on three aspects:the energy transition,a new type of sustainable urban development,and investment priorities.China's role in the world is now of a magnitude that makes its actions in the immediate future critical to how the world goes forward.This decade,2021e2030,is of fundamental importance to human history.If society locks in dirty and high-carbon capital,it raises profound risks of irreversible damage to the world's climate.It is crucial for China to peak its emissions in the 14th Five-Year Plan(by 2025),making the transition earlier and cheaper,enhancing its international competitiveness in growing new markets and setting a strong example for the world.The benefits for China and the world as a whole could be immense.

Climatic warming in Shanghai during 1873-2019 based on homogenised temperature records

Xujahui(XJH)station in downtown Shanghai holds the longest continuous daily temperature series in China,which is unique for assessing modern climate change and impacts but must be homogenised.The present work established a set of homogenised monthly and daily surface air temperature(SAT)series during 1873-2019 at XJH.Two major inhomogeneous break points(around 1954 and 1993)were identified in the original SAT series,which had been overlooked in previous works.The inhomogeneous biases were adjusted via the inter-station deviation analysis.The adjusted SAT series shows a warming trend of 1.9℃ per century compared with 1.7℃ per century in the original series.The multi-decadal variations of quasi-32-year and quasi-64-year periods are weaker in the adjusted series than in the original series,suggesting overestimated multi-decadal variability in the original data due to inhomogeneous biases.Relative to the early period 1873-1900,the recent decade(the 2010s)is warmer by 2.2℃.Urbanisation has been responsible for approximately 19.3%of the rapid warming since the 1980s.The high and low SAT extremes exhibit significant warming,especially after the 1970s.The trend in the low SAT extremes in the adjusted series is substantially larger than that in the original series,implying that previous studies might underestimate the warming in cold extremes.

Airborne bacteria associated with particulate matter from a highly urbanised metropolis:A potential risk to the population’s health

Bacteria in the air present patterns in space and time produced by different sources and environmental factors.Few studies have focused on the link between airborne pathogenic bacteria in densely populated cities,and the risk to the population’s health.Bacteria associated with particulate matter(PM)were monitored from the air of Mexico City(Mexico).We employed a metagenomic approach to characterise bacteria using the 16S rRNA gene.Airborne bacteria sampling was carried out in the north,centre,and south of Mexico City,with different urbanisation rates,during 2017.Bacteria added to the particles were sampled using high-volume PM_(10) samplers.To ascertain significant differences in bacterial diversity between zones and seasons,the Kruskal-Wallis,Wilcoxon tests were done on alpha diversity parameters.Sixty-three air samples were collected,and DNA was sequenced using next-generation sequencing.The results indicated that the bacterial phyla in the north and south of the city were Firmicutes,Cyanobacteria,Proteobacteria,and Actinobacteria,while in the central zone there were more Actinobacteria.There were no differences in the alpha diversity indices between the sampled areas.According to the OTUs,the richness of bacteria was higher in the central zone.Alpha diversity was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season;the Shannon index and the OTUs observed were higher in the central zone in the dry season.Pathogenic bacteria such as Kocuria,Paracoccus,and Micrococcus predominated in both seasonal times,while Staphylococcus,Corynebacterium,and Nocardioides were found during the rainy season,with a presence in the central zone.

Kentos: Socio-ecologies of care

What is the relation of humanity to the‘rest of nature’?Situated in the epoch of the Anthropocene and as concerns about climate emergency dramatically rise,the paper looks beyond the human/nature ontological separation and narratives of domination,in order to investigate the possibility of alternative worldviews and practices,instrumental for socio-ecological repair.Kentos,deriving from the greek verb kentaw(embroider or sting),describes the harvest practice of mastiha tree,which grows solely on Chios island.In the precision of the manual labour and the rituality of Kentos,one can read beyond pure production,a relationship of mutuality and a socio-ecological bond unfolding between human bodies,trees and their environment.The paper revisits the mastiha landscapes of Chios island,at North Aegean in Greece and narrates the story of relations that have occurred between humans and a tree native to the island,the Pistacia lentiscus var.Chia.It unpacks this socio-ecological bond and its various social,political and economic extensions,investigating how this interspecies relation has operated in history as a productive force and how it has survived in the present time,entangled in capitalist flows,climatic and urban pressures.The aim is to explore knowledge latent in interspecies relations that occurre in territories entangled in capitalist processes of extended urbanisation.Gathering this knowledge aims at informing alternative concepts and strategies for dealing with the contemporary socio-ecological challenges.The paper employs a methodology of relational thinking:it problematises and retracts strict ontological boundaries between human and‘the rest of Nature’.By doing so it reveals a whole new space of relations between species and sets for an exploration of the relations that we encounter there.This space is examined and conceptualised through qualitative ethnographic work,analysis of documentary sources,oral history and secondary sources that have captured intentionally or unintentionally facets of the socio-ecological bond.Concluding,the paper identifies a socio-ecology of care nested in interspecies relations.It reveales care as a latent interspecies practice,as situated knowledge,as a more-than-human collective,and as an intrinsic value of reciprocity between forms of life,within and beyond capitalism,generating alternative socio-political formations and alternative vision.The paper ends with a proposition:care is a choice,a valid alternative option for design space,strategy and practice to re-engage productively with the‘rest of nature’,material and living world.

Labour market performance of young migrant workers with heterogeneous educational trajectories in China

Successful global cities present a spectrum of development strategies but share the benefit of the reciprocal dynamics between tailored education systems and matching labour markets.This paper examines burgeoning cities in China and investigates the effects of the heterogeneous educational trajectories of young migrant workers in urban China on their labour market performance.Drawing on the National Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey,this paper finds striking wage variations among the young migrant population.Migrant workers who attended high schools in current receiving cities earned less than their counterparts who received senior-secondary education elsewhere.Students following the academic track were better off than students following the vocational track.To further explore what has prevented the urban labour market from rewarding migrants who studied in a receiving city,where the education system is expected to better cater to the city’s specific industrial needs,we tested and found evidence of the mediating effects of job industry and occupation.In addition to engaging with empirical debates in the field,this paper develops a theoretical framework to model how the qualitative attributes of an education system affect wage variations among migrant workers.