Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
What has Global Sensitivity Analysis ever done for us? A systematic review to support scientific advancement and to inform policy-making in earth system modelling
Published: 2019-04-08
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Computer models are essential tools in the earth system sciences. They underpin our search for understanding of earth system functioning and support decision- and policy-making across spatial and temporal scales. To understand the implications of uncertainty and environmental variability on the identification of such earth system models and their predictions, we can rely on increasingly powerful [...]
Current Development of Tourism and Recreation on Baltic Sea Coasts: New Directions and Perspectives
Published: 2019-02-13
Subjects: Education, Environmental Studies, Geography, Human Geography, Medicine and Health Sciences, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Rehabilitation and Therapy, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Research work analyses current situation and development of tourism in the region of Baltic Sea. Specific case study of this paper is Pärnu Bay, Estonia. This region is known for unique environmental settings: mild maritime climate, broad beaches, coniferous pine forests on the coastal zone and high aesthetic value of the surrounding landscapes. However, after the end of USSR, Estonia survived a [...]
Simulated environmental photo- and auto-oxidation of ambrein
Published: 2018-11-12
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In alcoholic solutions (tinctures), the tricyclic triterpenoid alcohol, ambrein, which is usually the main ingredient of the natural product ambergris, undergoes photo-oxidation to a number of odorous products. Such tinctures are valuable in perfumery. Similar reactions are thought to occur in the marine environment, when flotsam and jetsam ambergris are exposed to sunlight. However, [...]
Creating a Model to Optimize and Evaluate the Heat-Reducing Capacity of Green Infrastructure
Published: 2018-09-10
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Public Health, Environmental Studies, Medicine and Health Sciences, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences
As global warming increases temperatures worldwide, cities are experiencing even greater temperatures due to the urban heat island effect, which is the trapping of heat in “gray” urban infrastructure. Cities are combatting this with green infrastructure (GI) initiatives, such as the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) GI initiative in New York City. However, these programs are often [...]
Powers of 10: cross-scale optimization of social agencies for rapid climate and sustainability action
Published: 2018-08-27
Subjects: Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, International and Area Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability
Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and related sustainability initiatives will require halving of greenhouse gas emissions each decade from now on through to 2050, when net zero emissions should be achieved. To reach such significant reductions requires a rapid and strategic scaling of existing and emerging technologies and practices, coupled with economic and social transformation and [...]
Knowledge in the Dark: Scientific Challenges and Ways Forward
Published: 2018-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Higher Education, Language and Literacy Education, Liberal Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Public Health, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences
We propose the concept of knowledge in the dark – or short: dark knowledge – and outline how it can help clarify why in our current era of Big Data, the knowledge (i.e. evidence-based understanding) of people does not seem to be substantially increasing despite a rapid increase in produced data and information. Key reasons underlying dark knowledge are: (1) the production of biased, erroneous or [...]