High Energy Foods

Transition towards 100% renewable power and heat supply for energy intensive economies and severe continental climate conditions: Case for Kazakhstan

Unique skin microbial communities have been shaped by the harsh climatic conditions in high-altitude areas, such as intense ultraviolet radiation and low oxygen concentration. However, it is unknown whether high altitude contributes to shaping common microbiota inhabiting the skin across different mammals. The skin microbial communities of humans and horses living in high-altitude (Tibetan) and low-altitude areas were analyzed using full-length 16S rRNA sequencing technology. Alpha diversity differed between high- and low-altitude groups (p < 0.01). Skin microbial community composition also differed between high- and low-altitude areas (p < 0.05). Some of the common taxa present in the skin of humans and horses in high-altitude areas were identified as extreme microorganisms capable of adapting to the harsh high-altitude environment. Five bacterial taxa, including the genera Sphingomonas, Brevundimonas, and Kocuria, as well as the species Acinetobacter guillouiae and Arboricoccus pini, were significantly enriched (p < 0.01) on the skin of both humans and horses in high-altitude areas. Meanwhile, some taxa enriched on the skin surface at the same altitude showed preferences for mammalian species. Acinetobacter johnsonii, Anaerococcus nagyae, and Anaerococcus octavius were significantly enriched (p < 0.05) in the skin of humans at both high and low altitudes, whereas Acinetobacter pseudolwoffii and Armatimonas rosea, Archangium gephyra and Acinetobacter lwoffii were significantly enriched (p < 0.05) in the skin of horses at both high and low altitudes. In the network analyses, a positive correlation (p < 0.01) was shown between the skin taxa enriched in high-altitude areas and each other, while a negative correlation (p < 0.01) was found between the skin microorganisms enriched in high-altitude areas and those enriched in low-altitude areas. Overall, our findings indicate that high-altitude extreme environments drive convergent evolution of skin microbiota across mammals, reflecting the joint effects of environmental selection and host-related filtering on community assembly. This cross-species comparison provides a framework for understanding skin microbiome responses to extreme environments in plateau mammals.

High-altitude environments require that animals meet the metabolic O2 demands for locomotion and thermogenesis in O2-thin air, but the degree to which convergent metabolic changes have arisen across independent high-altitude lineages or the speed at which such changes arise is unclear. We examined seven high-altitude waterfowl that have inhabited the Andes (3812–4806 m elevation) over varying evolutionary time scales, to elucidate changes in biochemical pathways of energy metabolism in flight muscle relative to low-altitude sister taxa. Convergent changes across high-altitude taxa included increased hydroxyacyl-coA dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase activities, decreased lactate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, creatine kinase, and cytochrome c oxidase activities, and increased myoglobin content. ATP synthase activity increased in only the longest established high-altitude taxa, whereas hexokinase activity increased in only newly established taxa. Therefore, changes in pathways of lipid oxidation, glycolysis, and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation are common strategies to cope with high-altitude hypoxia, but some changes require longer evolutionary time to arise.

Food insecurity is a pressing issue in Nyakach Sub-county, exacerbated by harsh climatic conditions such as droughts and floods. The research objectives were: to identify the current state of food insecurity in Nyakach Subcounty, to assess the impact of harsh climatic conditions on food security, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing strategies to mitigate food insecurity, and to propose new strategies based on empirical evidence and best practices. The study adopted a mixed-methods research design, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches. An estimated sample size of 120 households and 60 farmers was targeted, along with 12 key informant interviews. Data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Findings showed that; 49.6% of residents rely on small-scale subsistence farming as source of livelihood, 63.5% obtain their foods from local markets, there is 18.3% prevalence of severe food insecurity, and harsh climate increases severe food insecurity by 20%, reduces crop yields by 15% and increases child malnutrition by 10%. The paper recommends scaling successful programs such as farmers training and food aid to new areas affected within the Subcounty, strengthening partnerships by collaborating with local and international organizations, enhance monitoring by improve data collection and analysis for better decision-making as this will ensure there is fact-based solutions, and promote innovation through encouraging adoption of new technologies and practices especially in farming such as greenhouse farming, irrigation and kitchen gardening. Keywords: Food security, climate, malnutrition, household, mitigation.

Introduction. The Russian Arctic, also called the Far North, attracts a lot of people who work on a fly-in fly-out basis. These temporary residents experience the negative impact of the harsh climate and suffer from unvaried diets and poor ration. Freeze-dried products might be the optimal solution to this problem. The research objective was to find a rationale for the use of freeze-dried long-storage products in the diets of temporary residents in regions with harsh climatic conditions. Study objects and methods. The research featured scientific publications on two topics: 1) nutrition and diet of shift workers in the Far North, 2) development of freeze-dried products for long-term storage in extreme conditions. Results and discussion. Shift workers consume a lot of fats and carbohydrates, while their diet lacks complete proteins, vitamins, minerals, dairy products, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Taking into consideration the high content of sugar and confectionery, the diet ruins the health of the temporary residents and causes alimentary chronic non-infectious diseases. A healthy diet for the Russian Arctic should correspond to the metabolic profile typical of people in chronic environment stress and be complete both quantitatively and qualitatively. Important food products are difficult to deliver to the Far North. As a result, they are microbiologically and chemically contaminated. Therefore, the region needs high-quality functional products with prolonged shelf life. Conclusion. Freeze-dried fermented milk products, fruits, and vegetables can help temporary residents of the Far North to maintain their usual food patterns. Freeze-dried foods have a long shelf life in unregulated temperature conditions, which can solve the issue of food supply even to the most remote settlements.

The goal of the present empirical study was to describe the lifestyle of people who have to live in harsh climatic and geographical conditions. The research featured the people of Kamchatka and involved several stages. During the first stage, the author obtained descriptive characteristics of the environment in question based on self-reports of respondents. The interviewed included those satisfied with their living conditions and those willing to leave Kamchatka. The lifestyle features were grouped into the differential assessment of environmental characteristics and the factors that directly affect the construction of one's individual lifestyle, e.g. climate, or the so-called geophysical factor, society, household, economy, etc. During the second stage, the author identified the nuclear and peripheral lifestyle structures typical of individuals that have to live in harsh conditions. The nuclear lifestyle structure consisted of characteristics that reflected activity, emotional assessment, safety, meanings, and truth. These features were associated with the direct implementation of specific goals, motives, and needs. The content and structural components of one's lifestyle appeared to be affected by one's chronotopes, or space-time structures. A time construct proved to build itself into one’s individual lifestyle, which led to a special type of constructing relationships heading from the past to the present and the future. This specific feature also determined the assessment of one’s life activities.

This paper is devoted to the problems of longevity of concrete maritime structures in climatic conditions of Russian Far Eastern seas. The subject actuality is stipulated with the plans of building of hydroengineering and transport structures in harsh climatic conditions under the program of modernization and expansion of the seaports capability in the Far East and development of the Northern Sea Route. It analyses the experience of hydroengineering structures building in conditions of Sakhalin Island seacoast during the period from 1920 to 2019 years. Character types of maritime hydroengineering structures by longevity considering service environment in corrosive mediums with the XF4 index are allotted and described. It mainly focuses to estimating of longevity by the results of predictive freezing-tests. Concrete’s qualitative reliabilities, deciding longevity of structures in hard service environment are analyzed. The data on actual frost-resistance of base (reference) composition concrete, which quality indexes have to ensure longevity at least 50 years in harsh climatic conditions, are cited. It is noted, that during the exploitation period increasing of qualitative indices of concrete is possible due to hardening and stabilization of concrete’s structure. It has been ascertained, that within the exploitation period concrete’s qualitative indices may increase due to its structure hardening and stabilization. It suggests the line of further investigations for methods preparation to predict structures service lifetime in hard service environment on the basis of the frost-resistance index of concrete and accumulation of experimental data on structures behavior in aggressive and harsh conditions.

New insights into bioremediation strategies for oil-contaminated soil in cold environments

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome currently continues to occupy a leading position in medicine and remains one of the main reasons for discussions among scientists around the world. WHO experts defined the problem of metabolic syndrome as an «epidemic of the 21st century», since its prevalence is currently, according to some estimates, from 10% to 40% among the adult population of the planet.AIM: To study the metabolic syndrome in patients with arterial hypertension living in the Far North; to determine the main variants of the metabolic syndrome that are characteristic of people with arterial hypertension in harsh climatic and geographical conditions and to analyze the frequency of occurrence of the identified variants of the metabolic syndrome depending on the degree of arterial hypertension and gender differences.MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study is presented in the form of 4 main stages: determination of metabolic syndrome variants characteristic of patients with AH living in the North, analysis of the frequency of occurrence of the identified main variants of the metabolic syndrome depending on gender, degree of AH and time spent in the Far North. Study period: March 2018–February 2019.The main inclusion criteria for this study were: the presence of metabolic syndrome, a confirmed diagnosis of arterial hypertension (AH) of 1–3 degrees based on generally accepted criteria (ESH / ESC, 2018), residence in the Far North for at least 1 year. For the diagnosis of MS, the IDF criteria, 2005, were adopted. By design, the work is in the nature of an observational one-sample study, which was conducted in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, Nizhnevartovsk (KhMAO-Yugra).RESULTS. The study involved 235 people, of which: men — 109 people (46.4±4,77%), women — 126 people (53.6±4,44%). The age of the study participants was 38±7.1 years. According to the degree of AH (according to the criteria, ESH / ESC from 2018), patients are presented as follows: 1st degree AH — 59 people (25.1± 2,83%); 2nd degree AH — 73 people (35.1± 3,11%); 3rd degree AH — 103 people (39.8± 3,19%). By the time of residence in harsh climatic conditions, all patients who took participation in this study were divided into three groups: group 1 — the residence time was from 1 year to 5 years. This group included 56 people (23.8±5,7%). 2 group — the period of stay in the Far North was from 6 to 11 years and this group is represented by 81 patients (34.5±5,3%) , group 3 — patients living in CS conditions for more than 11 years — 98 people (41.7±4,9%). № 1 — WC ≥ 94 cm in men and ≥ 80 cm in women + BP level ≥ 130/85 mm Hg + decrease in HDL cholesterol ≤ 1.03 mmol / L. This combination of the main structural units of MS was observed in 43 +/-3.23% of cases (p&lt;0.0016). Option number 2 — waist ≥ 94 cm in men and ≥ 80 cm in women + BP level ≥ 130/85 mm. rt. Art. + decrease in HDL-C ≤ 1.03 mmol/l + increase in triglycerides ≥ 1.7 mmol/l + increase in fasting glucose ≥ 5.6 mmol/l* — this combination of MS components occurred in 57+/-3.23 % of cases in all patients participating in the study (p&lt;0.0011).CONCLUSION. With an increase in the time spent in the Far North in patients with hypertension, who initially have a 3-component variant of the metabolic syndrome, there is a tendency towards an increase in the main components of the metabolic syndrome.

This paper presents recommendations for designing the architectural environment of residential buildings taking into account the climatic conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. The paper considers ways to adapt architecture and create comfortable conditions in a sharply continental climate. The cities of Northern Kazakhstan at the present stage of development were built largely without taking into account extreme low temperatures, as well as hot and dry hot days. In this regard, the conditions for people to stay in an open architectural environment are very difficult, which implies the need to adapt architecture to harsh climatic conditions. An artificially recreated architectural environment of residential buildings that meets the needs of city residents can become a way to resolve the region's climatic problems. That is, the design of adjoining and yard spaces with an artificially produced microclimate that would organize a comfortable stay in the external architectural environment at any time of the year. In turn, this innovation could create a big leap in the organization and design of the architectural environment of residential buildings in regions with a harsh climate. Organization of artificial microclimate in open space at the present stage of development of construction technologies and building materials is not an unattainable goal, but on the contrary a very relevant phenomenon, especially in the conditions of information and technological progress. The purpose of the study is to determine the ways by which it would be possible to recreate an artificial microclimate in the architectural environment of residential buildings. Creation of favorable conditions for a person to be at any time of the year, in an open urban space. Development of a direction in the design of an architectural environment, dealing with the adaptation of harsh climatic conditions in order to create a favorable microclimate. In the process of research work: theoretical aspects of designing an architectural environment were studied, a retrospective analysis of works related to the organization of a microclimate in harsh weather conditions was carried out. The principles and methods of designing an artificial microclimate in the regional conditions of Northern Kazakhstan were determined. More than 20 public spaces were studied and examined: parks, adjoining spaces and courtyards in such cities as: Astana, Pavlodar and Kostanay

Large grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plants are increasingly being installed around the world, including in harsh desert climates. Evaluating their performance can help improve the design and operation of PV systems. This study performed an energy and exergy analysis of a 20-MW grid-connected PV plant under desert climatic conditions in southern Algeria over a period of 1 year. The PV plant was divided into two 10-MW subsystems. Energy analysis was performed using actual irradiation, power output, wind speed and ambient temperature data. The annual average energy efficiency of the plant and subsystems was 10.82%, 10.95% and 10.69%, respectively. Solar radiation had the most significant impact (80% determination coefficient) on thermal exergy loss. The exergy efficiency of the plant was lower than the literature values, likely due to the harsh desert conditions. The comprehensive energy and exergy analysis provides insights into the performance of large-scale PV plants in desert climates. The results can help guide the system design and operation improvements for such conditions. Regular cleaning and cooling could improve performance.

Indian Armed Forces protect the boundaries of our country under diversified climatic conditions like the hot and dry deserts of Rajasthan, the humid forests of the northeast, coastal regions, cold deserts with snowbound areas with extremely low temperatures, and hypoxic conditions at high altitudes and underwater. The hypoxic and cold conditions at high and extreme altitudes lead to many physiological and psychological problems. The inclement weather conditions and the lack of proper facilities further exaggerate the problem. These soldiers fight more against harsh climatic conditions rather than the enemy. The survivability aspects of the soldiers have already been addressed by the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS). Problems related to high-altitude exposure have largely been addressed by providing an acclimatization schedule, which is currently followed by the Armed Forces.

Smart greenhouse control under harsh climate conditions based on data-driven robust model predictive control with principal component analysis and kernel density estimation

ContentsIn mammalian species, the connection between reproduction and nutrition is undeniable and illustrated by numerous publications: its role concerning regulation of hormonal secretions, fertility, pregnancy outcome, lactation and neonatal development indeed retains the attention of the scientific community. The interest on the influence of nutrition in dog and cat reproductive physiology is growing. Awareness on the key aspects of feeding during critical periods like pregnancy, lactation and weaning is essential to optimize the reproductive performances in these species.

The Arctic Ocean is an area where geoscience knowledge and (geo-) politics are closely intertwined. In several regions of the globe, tensions between different States are rising in view of sovereignty claims over parts of the ocean. However, the harsh climate conditions in the Arctic Ocean require tremendous efforts on behalf of its coastal States in order to establish the outer limits of their continental shelves, which force them to collaborate and share information. Over the last 20 years, significant advances in geoscience research have been achieved by mapping and imaging the Arctic seafloor and subsoil, often as a result of close collaboration between the Arctic coastal States. This includes the development of technology to facilitate operations in deep water, in remote areas and under harsh conditions, such as the use of icebreakers, of remotely operated vehicles and of autonomous underwater vehicles. These States are now in a position to prepare well substantiated submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf that delineate the extent of their continental shelves. The international collaboration and cooperation has resulted in a tremendous increase in our collective understanding of the Arctic over the last few decades. In this paper, we will discuss the political context and some of the major geological and tectonic features that make up the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding continental shelves.