Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Studies
Floodcraft: Game-based Interactive Learning Environment using Minecraft for Flood Mitigation and Preparedness for K-12 Education
Published: 2024-10-04
Subjects: Educational Methods, Environmental Studies, Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces
Flooding poses a significant threat to communities worldwide, yet educational methods to teach flood mitigation strategies are often lacking in engagement and practical application. This study introduces Floodcraft, an open-source educational game developed using the Minecraft platform to teach K-12 students about flood preparedness and mitigation methods interactively. The game encompasses four [...]
Private protected areas exhibit greater bias towards unproductive land compared to public protected areas
Published: 2024-09-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Geography, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Globally, private protected areas (PPAs) have become an important tool for biodiversity conservation. While they are expanding in size and number, there is limited evidence on their potential impact on avoiding biodiversity loss, and how this impact compares to the public protected areas (PAs). The impact of protection is measured as the actual biodiversity outcome within the area protected [...]
Heatwaves and Hostilities - Can rising temperatures lead to lasting peace?
Published: 2024-09-13
Subjects: Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Public Health, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, International and Area Studies, Nature and Society Relations, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences
In this paper, we are going to explore the complex relationship between climate change and global peace. Climate change and wars have a reciprocal relationship. As the war fuels climate change, the latter can catalyze the war too. Through the analysis of the ongoing conflicts across the world, recent technological advancements, and the globalized nature of the world, we will review different [...]
A Community-Centric Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure for Addressing Nitrogen Pollution using Web Systems and Conversational AI
Published: 2024-09-12
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
The Blue-Green Action Platform (BlueGAP) information system (IS) is an intelligent cyberinfrastructure framework designed to support large-scale water quality assessments in the context of demographic statistics and community stories about water issues. The system prioritizes collaboration with interested parties in three pilot watersheds with test cases implemented in US locations including [...]
Designing a scenario of unilateral climate intervention
Published: 2024-09-11
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Studies, International and Area Studies, Other Environmental Sciences
Climate change is causing increasingly alarming global impacts, such as rising temperatures and more severe storms. Despite this, current multilateral initiatives and agreements to systematically reduce greenhouse gas emissions are completely incommensurate with the scale of the problem. Thus, we explore the potential that some unilateral actor, finding present and near-future climate changes [...]
Recovering nutrients from urine – a golden opportunity for sustainable fertiliser production
Published: 2024-08-29
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Studies, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
The utilization of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in agriculture has surpassed the safe-operating thresholds for biogeochemical cycles, necessitating the adoption of more efficient nutrient management strategies to restore this balance. The predominant source of N and P supplementation globally stems from the application of synthetic fertilizers. This study explores the potential of nutrient [...]
Research on Rural Design of Industrial Towns on the Urban Fringe Based on the Needs of China's National Spatial Planning System
Published: 2024-08-23
Subjects: Environmental Studies
As urbanization continues, villages and industrial townships in peri-urban areas are facing increasingly complex challenges and opportunities. These areas are usually at the crossroads of urban and rural areas, and are rich in resources and potential, but are also accompanied by environmental, economic and social problems. In May 2019, China formally promulgated the Several Opinions of the State [...]
Operationalizing accessibility in environmental sustainability efforts: Challenges, barriers, and opportunities
Published: 2024-08-22
Subjects: Environmental Studies
There is growing recognition of the need to move towards climate justice in response to the climate crisis; that is, ensuring mitigation and adaptation responses centre equity, and promote the inclusion of marginalized or otherwise ‘equity-deserving’ groups, including people with disabilities. Despite this recognition, there is little empirical research exploring the intersection of disability in [...]
Corporate social responsibility management and sustainability of a Peruvian agribusiness: analysis of invention, adaptability and organizational ambidexterity
Published: 2024-08-06
Subjects: Environmental Studies
This research article analyzes the management of corporate social responsibility and the sustainability of a Peruvian agribusiness, considering invention, adaptability and organizational ambidexterity. The importance of invention is highlighted to develop innovative practices that improve sustainability. Adaptability is crucial to respond to external changes and environmental regulations. [...]
The impact of rural digitization on agricultural carbon emissions and its mechanism pathways
Published: 2024-08-06
Subjects: Environmental Studies
This paper utilizes provincial macro data from 2011 to 2020 to thoroughly investigate the impact of rural digitization on agricultural carbon emissions. The research findings reveal that rural digitization significantly reduces agricultural carbon emissions, a conclusion confirmed through robustness and endogeneity tests. Using a "technology effect-knowledge effect" logical framework, it is found [...]
Comprehensive Assessment of Flood Risk and Vulnerability for Essential Facilities: Iowa Case Study
Published: 2024-08-02
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Of all natural disasters that occur on this planet, flood events are universally one of the most common and most destructive. As climate change and human actions continue to cause the occurrence of flood events to rise, it becomes increasingly important that the effects of flooding are analyzed and understood. In this study, nine different types of critical amenities in the state of Iowa (such as [...]
Climate equivalence metrics for airline contrail mitigation
Published: 2024-07-10
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Studies, Sustainability
The aviation sector faces a significant challenge in mitigating climate change due to the dual impact of CO2 emissions and contrail formation. Contrails, which form under specific atmospheric conditions, contribute to global warming. Mitigating contrails, however, can require flight path diversions, leading to increased fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This study evaluates various climate [...]
One Belt, Many Roads: Investigating China’s Foreign Investment and Land-use Impacts in Southeast Asia
Published: 2024-06-22
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Natural Resource Economics
Foreign direct investment (FDI) can reshape landscapes in developing countries, but its impact remains unclear. This study examines how China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) FDI impacts land-cover and land-use change in Southeast Asia, a key trade partner receiving significant Chinese infrastructure investments. Focusing on areas with BRI investments from 2008 to 2018, we utilize satellite data [...]
Loss of Schooling from Tropical Cyclones: Evidence from 13 Low- and Middle-income Countries
Published: 2024-06-19
Subjects: Environmental Public Health, Environmental Studies
Increasing educational attainment is one of the most important and effective tools for health and economic improvements. The extent to which extreme climate events disrupt education, resulting in fewer years of schooling and reduced educational attainment, remains under-studied. Children in low- and middle-income countries may be uniquely vulnerable to loss of schooling after such disasters due [...]
GeoAI and the Future of Spatial Analytics
Published: 2024-05-01
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Library and Information Science, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This chapter discusses the challenges of traditional spatial analytical methods in their limited capacity to handle big and messy data, as well as mining unknown or latent patterns. It then introduces a new form of spatial analytics – geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) - and describes the advantages of this new strategy in big data analytics and data-driven discovery. Finally, a [...]