Cold Countries Research Articles

Quantitative Comparison Of Mortality Attributable To Heat And Cold In A Multi-Country Analysis

Introduction: While several studies report estimates of heat or cold-mortality relationships, few have directly compared the burden attributable to different temperature components. Methods: Two-stage time series analysis of 384 locations in 13 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA) in 1985-2012. Temperature-mortality relationships were estimated with a distributed lag non-linear model with 21 days of lag, and then pooled in a multivariate meta-regression. Attributable deaths were calculated for heat and cold, defined as temperatures above and below the minimum mortality temperature, and for moderate and extreme temperatures, defined using cut-offs at the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. Results: Cold is accountable for a much higher mortality impact if compared to heat, with estimates of attributable fraction of 7•29% (95%CI: 7•03-7•49%) and 0•42% (0•39-0•44%) overall, respectively. Results display a substantial inter-country variation: cold-related deaths are lower in tropical countries such as Thailand (2.61%) or Brazil (2.83%) and surprisingly in cold temperate countries such as Canada (4.46%), while heat-attributable deaths do not show a clear pattern. Only 0.63% (0.61-0.64%) and 0.23% (0.22-0.24%) of deaths are attributable to extreme cold and heat, respectively. Conclusions: The analysis of the largest dataset ever collected for assessing temperature-mortality associations, including over 74 million deaths, indicates that cold is consistently accountable for a much higher proportion of deaths. In addition, most of the attributable deaths are actually due to moderate temperatures. These findings are important for the development of strategies to reduce the health impact, and may have implications in estimating the burden of climate change. Reference Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multi-country study. The Lancet. 2015 (accepted for publication).

Cooling Load Calculation and ThermalModeling for Vehicle by MATLAB

The heating load calculation is based on peak or near-peak conditions, which normally occur early in the morning before sunrise, in addition, in cold countries, the ambient temperature variation during the winter months is not significant. The development of air conditioning system has been growing rapidly due to people needs of having comfortable condition. The cooling system is one of the important systems, because it is related to passenger comfort and important to study transient response of vehicle under real driving conditions. The procedure of this research is a simulation analysis using MATLAB program that uses mathematic equation, make the cabin model, etc. The heat occurred in the cabin consists of metabolic, direct, diffuse, reflected, ambient, exhaust, engine, ventilation, and AC loads has been calculated with three different time's condition which is performed using cooling load simulation tool of MATLAB/GUI. A negative cabin load is provided to the cabin in order to decrease its temperature to the comfort level.

Evaluating the value proposition for improving vaccine thermostability to increase vaccine impact in low and middle-income countries

The need to keep vaccines cold in the face of high ambient temperatures and unreliable access to electricity is a challenge that limits vaccine coverage in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Greater vaccine thermostability is generally touted as the obvious solution. Despite conventional wisdom, comprehensive analysis of the value proposition for increasing vaccine thermostability has been lacking. Further, while significant investments have been made in increasing vaccine thermostability in recent years, no vaccine products have been commercialized as a result. We analyzed the value proposition for increasing vaccine thermostability, grounding the analysis in specific vaccine use cases (e.g., use in routine immunization [RI] programs, or in campaigns) and in the broader context of cold chain technology and country level supply chain system design. The results were often surprising. For example, cold chain costs actually represent a relatively small fraction of total vaccine delivery system costs. Further, there are critical, vaccine use case-specific temporal thresholds that need to be overcome for significant benefits to be reaped from increasing vaccine thermostability. We present a number of recommendations deriving from this analysis that suggest a rational path toward unlocking the value (maximizing coverage, minimizing total system costs) of increased vaccine thermostability, including: (1) the full range of thermostability of existing vaccines should be defined and included in their labels; (2) for new vaccines, thermostability goals should be addressed up-front at the level of the target product profile; (3) improving cold chain infrastructure and supply chain system design is likely to have the largest impact on total system costs and coverage in the short term—and will influence the degree of thermostability required in the future; (4) in the long term, there remains value in monitoring the emergence of disruptive technologies that could remove the entire RI portfolio out of the cold chain.

Delayed neurological sequelae of carbon monoxide poisoning

Abstract Carbon monoxide poisoning is a common presentation in cold countries and usually occurs in the setting of use of improperly vented fuel devices and fireplaces. It is a rare occurrence in a tropical country like India but should always be considered when a comatose patient is found in a confined area with poor ventilation. Patients who recover the effects of acute toxicity may develop delayed neurological sequelae in the form of a broad spectrum of neurological deficits, cognitive impairments and affective disorders. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain typically shows involvement of the basal ganglia and cortical white matter.

Pangium edule Reinw: A Promising Non-edible Oil Feedstock for Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel production from non-edible feedstocks is currently drawing much attention due to legitimate concerns about the effects of using edible oil for fuel. Pangium edule Reinw is a non-edible feedstock. Pangium is a tall tree native to the Micronesia, Melanesia and the mangrove swamps of South-East Asia. In this study, biodiesel production and characterization from P. edule oil was reported. The seeds were obtained from Bogor, Indonesia. The oil was found to have an acid value of 19.62 mg KOH/g oil. Therefore, a two-step acid–base-catalysed transesterification was used to produce biodiesel. This was followed by evaluating the physical and chemical properties of biodiesel and its blends with diesel. It has been found that the determined properties of P. edule methyl ester indicate that the oil can be considered as a future biodiesel source. The most remarkable feature of P. edule is its cloud, pour and cold filter plugging points. This biodiesel yielded cloud, pour and cold filter plugging points of –6, –4 and –8 °C, respectively. This indicates the viability of using this biodiesel in cold countries. Therefore, it is suggested that more research should be conducted on P. edule for future biodiesel production.

Fast and sensitive detection of enteropathogenic Yersinia by immunoassays.

Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, the two Yersinia species that are enteropathogenic for humans, are distributed worldwide and frequently cause diarrhea in inhabitants of temperate and cold countries. Y. enterocolitica is a major cause of foodborne disease resulting from consumption of contaminated pork meat and is further associated with substantial economic cost. However, investigation of enteropathogenic Yersinia species is infrequently performed routinely in clinical laboratories because of their specific growth characteristics, which make difficult their isolation from stool samples. Moreover, current isolation procedures are time-consuming and expensive, thus leading to underestimates of the incidence of enteric yersiniosis, inappropriate prescriptions of antibiotic treatments, and unnecessary appendectomies. The main objective of the study was to develop fast, sensitive, specific, and easy-to-use immunoassays, useful for both human and veterinary diagnosis. Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against Y. enterocolitica bioserotypes 2/O:9 and 4/O:3 and Y. pseudotuberculosis serotypes I and III were produced. Pairs of MAbs were selected by testing their specificity and affinity for enteropathogenic Yersinia and other commonly found enterobacteria. Pairs of MAbs were selected to develop highly sensitive enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) and lateral flow immunoassays (LFIs or dipsticks) convenient for the purpose of rapid diagnosis. The limit of detection of the EIAs ranged from 3.2 × 10(3) CFU/ml to 8.8 × 10(4) CFU/ml for pathogenic serotypes I and III of Y. pseudotuberculosis and pathogenic bioserotypes 2/O:9 and 4/O:3 of Y. enterocolitica and for the LFIs ranged from 10(5) CFU/ml to 10(6) CFU/ml. A similar limit of detection was observed for artificially contaminated human feces.

Identifying seasonal heat islands in urban settings of Delhi (India) using remotely sensed data – An anomaly based approach

Delhi, the capital city of India is a rapidly urbanizing agglomeration. The city thus experiences various environmental challenges that are true for all the global cities. urban heat island (UHI) is one such issue that the city is facing. Being a tropical city, Delhi’s UHI behaves differentially in comparison to developed cold country cities. This paper analyzes seasonal variation in spatial patterns of UHI in the semi-arid environmental settings of Delhi. Temporal variation in distribution and magnitude of UHI was also studied and analyzed with respect to land use land cover practices using Landsat TM data of all the five seasons (winter, spring, summer, monsoon and post-monsoon) for year 2010–11. An anomaly based approach was attempted to quantify seasonal and annual UHI intensities. Maximum and minimum seasonal UHI intensities were observed in summer (intensity=16.7°C) and winter (intensity=7.4°C), respectively. Mean annual LST anomaly map aided in identifying UHI vulnerable locations in the city. Major commercial and industrial sites across the city, and the airport area in south experienced higher UHI effects and were found to be the most vulnerable locations.

Shed some (sun)light on vitamin D deficiency.

Brazilians would tend todisregard it as a problem of cold countries, with long wintersand low exposure to our beautiful and bright sunshine. Butthis is not the case. One third of Brazilian children admittedforhematopoieticstemcelltransplantation(HSCT)inCuritibawerevitaminDdeficientatadmission,andhalfofthematdis-charge. Why would any transplant physician worry about it?BecausevitaminDdeficiencymayworsenmanyoftheadverseeffects seen after HSCT. These include low calcium and phos-phorus blood levels, decreased bone mineral density, chronicbony pain, muscle weakness, impaired immunity, respiratorytract infections, glucose intolerance, and chronic graft versushost disease (GVHD).Inanormalphysiology,7-dehydrocholesterolpresentintheskinistransformedintovitaminD3(cholecalciferol)whenitisexposed to ultra-violet B light.

Typing and Clustering of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Isolates by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis Using Insertion Sequences

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is an enteropathogen that has an animal reservoir and causes human infections, mostly in temperate and cold countries. Most of the methods previously used to subdivide Y. pseudotuberculosis were performed on small numbers of isolates from a specific geographical area. One aim of this study was to evaluate the typing efficiency of restriction fragment length polymorphism of insertion sequence hybridization patterns (IS-RFLP) compared to other typing methods, such as serotyping, ribotyping, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST), on the same set of 80 strains of Y. pseudotuberculosis of global origin. We found that IS100 was not adequate for IS-RFLP but that both IS285 and IS1541 efficiently subtyped Y. pseudotuberculosis. The discriminatory index (DI) of IS1541-RFLP (0.980) was superior to those of IS285-RFLP (0.939), ribotyping (0.944), MLST (0.861), and serotyping (0.857). The combination of the two IS (2IS-RFLP) further increased the DI to 0.998. Thus, IS-RFLP is a powerful tool for the molecular typing of Y. pseudotuberculosis and has the advantage of exhibiting well-resolved banding patterns that allow for a reliable comparison of strains of worldwide origin. The other aim of this study was to assess the clustering power of IS-RFLP. We found that 2IS-RFLP had a remarkable capacity to group strains with similar genotypic and phenotypic markers, thus identifying robust populations within Y. pseudotuberculosis. Our study thus demonstrates that 2IS- and even IS1541-RFLP alone might be valuable tools for the molecular typing of global isolates of Y. pseudotuberculosis and for the analysis of the population structure of this species.

Air heating of passive houses in cold climates: Investigation using detailed dynamic simulations

The passive house (PH) standard was originally defined for Central Europe and has subsequently been applied to many cold climate countries. In these conditions, the relation between this standard and the air heating (AH) is not clear while both concepts are usually associated. Furthermore, the AH provides a way to simplify the space-heating distribution system. The present contribution investigates the feasibility of the AH concept in PH along with its challenges in terms of thermal dynamics: the magnitude of the AH temperature needed, the temperature difference between rooms, the impact of internal gains, the influence of thermal losses from ventilation ducts and the AH control. This is performed using detailed dynamic simulations (TRNSYS) on a typical detached house typology. Practically, four cold climate zones are considered as well as different insulation levels and construction materials. Results show limitations related to a centralized AH as well as provide guidelines for a consistent AH design in cold climates. In addition, a simple analytical method used for the design of German PH is tested and proved accurate enough to estimate the maximal AH temperature during the heating season.

Feeling the Heat: Temperature, Physiology & the Wealth of Nations

Does temperature affect economic performance? Has temperature always affected social welfare through its impact on physical and cognitive function? While many studies have explored the indirect links between climate and welfare (e.g. agricultural yield, violent conflict, or sea-level rise), few address the possibility of direct impacts operating through human physiology. This paper presents a model of labor supply under thermal stress, building on a longstanding physiological literature linking thermal stress to health and task performance. A key prediction is that effective labor supply – defined as a composite of labor hours, task performance, and effort – is decreasing in temperature deviations from the biological optimum. We use country-level panel data on population-weighted average temperature and income (1950-2005), to illustrate the potential magnitude of the effect. Using a fixed effects estimation strategy, we find that hotter-than-average years are associated with lower output per capita for already hot countries and higher output per capita for cold countries: approximately 3%-4% in both directions. We then use household data on air conditioning and heating expenditures from the US to provide further evidence in support of a physiologically based causal mechanism. This more direct causal link between climate and social welfare has important implications for both the economics of climate change and comparative development.

Review of Ice Effects on Hydropower Systems

AbstractHydropower is a major power source in cold region countries. It is also the largest renewable energy source offering significant potential for reduction in carbon emissions. In Norway, hydr...

The Durability Test Method for External Thermal Insulation Composite System used in Cold and Wet Climate Countries

The paper proposes the durability prediction method for ETICS, which could be applied in cold and wet climate regions. This improved method is based on the international and nowadays applicable standards for systems service life assessment (ETAG 004, ISO 15462), and completes them with other necessary impact criteria. This study examines the main climate exposures and how these impacts reproduced in the laboratories. The paper analyses the extreme air temperature and rainfall changes, the intensity ultraviolet radiation (UV) in Lithuania. The analysis is based on evaluation of daily and yearly data recorded by meteorological stations. The aim of the research is to compose the accelerated ageing cycle for ETICS taking into account the characteristics of building materials and identifying the potential degradation factors and indicators. In order to establish the combinations of impacts in ageing cycles, it is necessary the adequate evaluation of intensity of environmental exposures of a certain locality. The basic goal is to create the reliable accelerated ageing cycle which would be as similar as natural ageing. Also this paper includes a review of published literature on accelerated ageing and outdoor climate characterization. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.1.2.2778

A Methodology for Identification of Weather Sensitive Component of Electrical Load Using Empirical Mode Decomposition Technique

The expansion planning and operation of all three sectors, generation, transmission and distribution, of power system essentially require load forecasting. Weather conditions have significant impacts on forecasted load, especially short-term and mid-term. A momentous portion of the electrical energy is consumed, especially in cold or hot countries, to mitigate the impact of weather on the daily life of human society. Usually, weather dependent component of load is identified by fitting appropriate non-linear curve to the scatter plot of weather-load model. This technique some times shows lower correlation with weather variables. This paper proposes a new methodology to identify the weather sensitive component of electrical load using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) technique. The proposed methodology is applied to the daily peak load of Dhaka zone of Bangladesh Power System (BPS) of the year 2012. A detailed numerical process to evaluate the weather sensitive portion of the load is also presented. The proposed methodology is validated through statistical error evaluation process. Finally the salient features of the results are discussed.

Evaluation of a Single Procedure Allowing the Isolation of Enteropathogenic Yersinia along with Other Bacterial Enteropathogens from Human Stools

Enteropathogenic Yersinia are among the most frequent agents of human diarrhea in temperate and cold countries. However, the incidence of yersiniosis is largely underestimated because of the peculiar growth characteristics of pathogenic Yersinia, which make their isolation from poly-contaminated samples difficult. The use of specific procedures for Yersinia isolation is required, but is expensive and time consuming, and therefore is not systematically performed in clinical pathology laboratories. A means to circumvent this problem would be to use a single procedure for the isolation of all bacterial enteropathogens. Since the Statens Serum Institut enteric medium (SSI) has been reported to allow the growth at 37°C of most Gram-negative bacteria, including Yersinia, our study aimed at evaluating its performances for Yersinia isolation, as compared to the commonly used Yersinia-specific semi-selective Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin medium (CIN) incubated at 28°C. Our results show that Yersinia pseudotuberculosis growth was strongly inhibited on SSI at 37°C, and therefore that this medium is not suitable for the isolation of this species. All Yersinia enterocolitica strains tested grew on SSI, while some non-pathogenic Yersinia species were inhibited. The morphology of Y. enterocolitica colonies on SSI allowed their differentiation from various other Gram-negative bacteria commonly isolated from stool samples. However, in artificially contaminated human stools, the recovery of Y. enterocolitica colonies on SSI at 37°C was difficult and was 3 logs less sensitive than on CIN at 28°C. Therefore, despite its limitations, the use of a specific procedure (CIN incubated at 28°C) is still required for an efficient isolation of enteropathogenic Yersinia from stools.

The Influence of Energy Conservation on the Performance of Solar Thermal Systems – A Cold Country Case Study

The European Union has set a goal that the energy use in the built environment shall be reduced by 41% to the year 2050 compared to 2005-2006. This could introduce new opportunities for solar thermal systems in cold countries. In such countries, like Sweden and Canada, the economy in solar thermal collector installation projects is often spoiled by the fact that most of heating energy demand of the building occurs during periods when the available solar energy is low.The present paper investigates the performance of solar thermal systems subjected to different quota between space heating and domestic hot water demand (DHW). This study investigates the performance of a solar thermal system integrated to four different buildings with varying heating loads in two different locations, Sweden and Canada. Models of single family houses are created which are able to simulate the total heating demand with different heating demand profiles but the same DHW demand. Simulations are performed in TRNSYS, an advanced tool used to simulate transient systems. Results indicate that solar combisystems tend to generate more useful energy and therefore be more cost effective when installed in buildings with higher heating demands.

Intraoperative clouding of a posterior chamber intraocular lens

The glistening and delayed opacification of intraocular lenses (IOLs) has been reported in literature as a late and permanent change in the acrylic IOL due to temperature change. We report a case in which clouding and opacification of an IOL occurred intraoperatively within a few seconds of implantation into the capsular bag after routine phacoemulsification. This phenomenon occurred due to the sudden change in temperature of a very cold IOL being implanted into the eye at body temperature. The opaqueness lasted for about 3h then cleared without any residual or permanent change to the IOL. This case highlights the effect of environmental factors on hydrophillic acrylic IOLs. It is particularly important in cold countries and during the winter months. It also reinforces the practice of storing the IOL at a correct temperature to avoid sudden fluctuations in its surrounding environment.

Scale modeling studies on stack effect in tall vertical shafts

Natural ventilation was provided by tall vertical shafts such as solar chimney while designing some green buildings. For buildings with a tall vertical shaft located in very cold countries, measured pressure difference due to stack effect was up to 300 Pa. Air motion induced by stack effect would give adequate ventilation flow rate. However, stack effect would also give adverse effect if not utilized properly in this green design. Smoke would spread faster to other parts of the building in an accidental fire. Therefore, estimations of stack pressure by simple hydrostatic equation used to be criticized in performance-based design. Further studies are required and will be justified by scale model experiments in this article. Stack effect in a vertical shaft was studied experimentally by a model shaft of size 0.05 × 0.05 m2 and height 2.0 m. Air temperature inside the model was kept at constant values above outdoor by wounding hot electric wires. Vertical air temperature profiles inside and outside of the model at different heights were measured. Measured air pressure difference profiles between indoor and outdoor were then compared with those estimated from the air temperature difference. Results were then applied to justify stack pressure estimations by the hydrostatic models. From this study, hydrostatic equations are confirmed to be acceptable for studying stack pressure in tall vertical shafts.

Wind Blade Material Optimization

In recent years the wind turbine blade has been the subject of comprehensive study and research amongst all other components of the wind turbine. As our appetite for renewable energy from the wind turbine continues to increase, companies now focus on rotor blades which can go up to 80m in length. The blade material not only have to face large aerodynamic, inertial and fatigue loads but are now being designed to endure environmental effects such as Ultraviolet degradation of surface, accumulation of dust particles at sandy locations, ice accretion on blades in cold countries, insect collision on blades and moisture ingress. All this is considered to ensure that the blades complete its designated life span. Furthermore exponential increase in composite blade manufacturing is causing a substantial amount of unrecyclable material. All these issues raise challenges for wind blade material use, its capacity to solve above mentioned problems and also maintain its structural integrity. This paper takes on this challenge by optimizing from the properties, merits, demerits and cost of different possible competing materials. Then the material is checked for its structural integrity through Finite Element Analysis simulation using standards like IEC-61400-1.This paper also shows the future direction of research by elaborating the influence nanotechnology can have in the improvement of the wind blade.

Paris, London, Berlin

The time was 1938, and so it might have been one hundred years ago— those pale, remote figures under the blackened trees. Cold winds stirred across the birch tops and down the meadows of the old, purple earth of Poland; and the last leaves dropped. It was in the aging Baltic country just before the War, at the north join of the German and the Pole on the historic black waters—in Danzig, a winter land of sticks and hunger, spiked with feudal lords whose hearts were overlaid with the thin elegances of Paris, London, and Berlin, but which still ached with the antique hates and griefs of the cold countries, in literature always called “Mother . . .”