Recent Population Growth Research Articles

Spatial Variation of Acanthophlebia cruentata (Ephemeroptera), a Mayfly Endemic to Te Ika-a-Māui-North Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Simple SummaryPatterns of variation within a widespread species can provide evidence of population history. Adjacent stable populations with gene flow show clinal genetic divergence forming a pattern of isolation by distance. Populations that have grown due to an increase in potential habitat such as forest cover since the last glacial maximum will have low genetic variation showing patterns of range expansion. The mayfly Acanthophlebia cruentata of Aotearoa, New Zealand, is widespread in streams of North Island but absent from the cooler South Island. Mayfly nymphs are restricted to streams but adults fly, facilitating gene flow among catchments. We detected higher genetic diversity at lower latitudes of this mayfly’s range compared to most of its distribution, concordant with predictions of limited forest cover in New Zealand during Pleistocene glacial periods. A signature of recent range expansion was observed in the higher latitudes. Despite initial observation suggesting mayfly size correlated with latitude, we found sex, elevation and sampling date were significant predictors of size, and some size variation is also explained by three regional groups based on haplotype distribution.The mayfly Acanthophlebia cruentata of Aotearoa, New Zealand, is widespread in Te Ika-a-Māui North Island streams, but has never been collected from South Island despite land connection during the last glacial maximum. Population structure of this mayfly might reflect re-colonisation after volcanic eruptions in North Island c1800 years ago, climate cycling or conceal older, cryptic diversity. We collected population samples from 33 locations to estimate levels of population genetic diversity and to document phenotypic variation. Relatively low intraspecific haplotype divergence was recorded among mitochondrial cytb sequences from 492 individuals, but these resolved three geographic-haplotype regions (north, west, east). We detected a signature of isolation by distance at low latitudes (north) but evidence of recent population growth in the west and east. We did not detect an effect of volcanic eruptions but infer range expansion into higher latitudes from a common ancestor during the last glacial period. As judged from wing length, both sexes of adult mayflies were larger at higher elevation and we found that haplotype region was also a significant predictor of Acanthophlebia cruentata size. This suggests that our mitochondrial marker is concordant with nuclear genetic differences that might be explained by founder effect during range expansion.

The Smart in Smart Cities: A Framework for Image Classification Using Deep Learning.

The need for a smart city is more pressing today due to the recent pandemic, lockouts, climate changes, population growth, and limitations on availability/access to natural resources. However, these challenges can be better faced with the utilization of new technologies. The zoning design of smart cities can mitigate these challenges. It identifies the main components of a new smart city and then proposes a general framework for designing a smart city that tackles these elements. Then, we propose a technology-driven model to support this framework. A mapping between the proposed general framework and the proposed technology model is then introduced. To highlight the importance and usefulness of the proposed framework, we designed and implemented a smart image handling system targeted at non-technical personnel. The high cost, security, and inconvenience issues may limit the cities’ abilities to adopt such solutions. Therefore, this work also proposes to design and implement a generalized image processing model using deep learning. The proposed model accepts images from users, then performs self-tuning operations to select the best deep network, and finally produces the required insights without any human intervention. This helps in automating the decision-making process without the need for a specialized data scientist.

Applicability evaluation of a demand-controlled ventilation system in livestock.

The distribution of agricultural and livestock products has been limited owing to the recent rapid population growth and the COVID-19 pandemic; this has led to an increase in the demand for food security. The livestock industry is interested in increasing the growth performance of livestock that has resulted in the need for a mechanical ventilation system that can create a comfortable indoor environment. In this study, the applicability of demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) to energy-efficient mechanical ventilation control in a pigsty was analyzed. To this end, an indoor temperature and CO2 concentration prediction model was developed, and the indoor environment and energy consumption behavior based on the application of DCV control were analyzed. As a result, when DCV control was applied, the energy consumption was smaller than that of the existing control method; however, when it was controlled in an hourly time step, the increase in indoor temperature was large, and several sections exceeded the maximum temperature. In addition, when it was controlled in 15-min time steps, the increase in indoor temperature and energy consumption decreased; however, it was not energy efficient on days with high-outdoor temperature and pig heat.

ASSESSING LANDFILLS SURFACE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION USING LANDSAT 8 SATELLITE IMAGE AT BIG CITIES IN VIETNAM

In recent years, rapid urbanization and population growth have led to an overload of waste in big cities. High landfill surface temperature is an important factor causing serious environmental pollution due to speeding up the generation of biogas. This paper presents the results of assessment of land surface temperature distribution in some large landfills in Vietnam, including Nam Son landfill (Hanoi) and Da Phuoc landfill (Ho Chi Minh city). Landsat 8 satellite image data is used to calculate land surface temperatures based on the split-window method. The results showed that the landfill surface temperature was much higher than the surrounding area, even compared to the areas characterized by impervious surfaces. The difference between the highest surface temperature in Nam Son, Da Phuoc landfills and the lowest surface temperature in the surrounding area is about 20ºC. The results obtained in this study provide input information to develop monitoring models of pollution at landfills.

A comparison of unsupervised and supervised machine learning algorithms to predict water pollutions

Clean and safe water is vital for our lives and public health. In recent decades, population growth, agriculture, industries, and climate change have worsened freshwater resource depletion and clean water pollution. Several studies have focused on water pollutions risk simulation and prediction in the presence of pollution hotspots. However, the increase and complexity of big data caused by uncertain water quality parameters led to a new efficient algorithm to trace the most accurate pollution hotspots. Therefore, this study proposes to offer different algorithms and comparative studies using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. Ten different most widely used algorithms, including unsupervised and supervised ML, will be employed to categorize the pollution hotspots for the Terengganu River. Besides, we also validate algorithms’ accuracies by improving and changing each parameter in ML algorithms. Our results list all the accurate and efficient ML algorithms for the classification of river pollutions. These results help to facilitate river prediction using efficient and accurate algorithms in various water quality scenario.

Recent dispersal and diversification within the clingfish genus Acyrtus (Actinopterygii: Gobiesocidae), with the description of a new western Atlantic species

Abstract The genus Acyrtus (Gobiesocidae) is represented by four valid species distributed in the western Atlantic, and a recently described fifth species from the eastern Pacific. Here, we describe a new species endemic to Trindade Island, Brazil, and provide the first phylogenetic inference for the genus including all representatives. The new species can be distinguished from all its congeners by meristic and morphometric characters, as well as genetic differences. It presents low genetic diversity and, contrarily to other Trindade Island endemic fishes, shows no evidence of recent population growth. Our phylogeny reveals cryptic species and the paraphyletic nature of Acyrtus, which included Arcos nudus (western Atlantic) in a clade that separated from Arcos erythrops (tropical eastern Pacific) around 20 Mya. The three species found in the Brazilian Province, including one that remains undescribed, form a monophyletic clade which colonized the western South Atlantic around 2.6 Mya. Our study suggests that Arcos nudus should be placed in Acyrtus, and that the relationships among the closely-related Gobiesocidae genera Acyrtus (mostly from the Atlantic Ocean) and Arcos (from the Pacific Ocean) need further investigation.

최근 우리나라 도시 인구 변화에 따른 도시화 효과 특성

Recently, population growth has been slowing down in metropolitan cities in South Korea. In this study, we analyzed urbanization effects that reflect the characteristics of recent population growth trends using four different methods. In South Korea, the urbanization effect has recently become weaker. The urbanization effect in South Korea was 24 ~ 49% in the last 48 years (1973 ~ 2020). Similarly, for certain spans of 32 years (1973 ~ 2004) and 24 years (1973 ~ 1996), the urbanization effect values were 30 ~ 64% and 42 ~ 73%, respectively. The recent decline in urbanization effect compared to the early 2000s is related to the decreasing urban population growth. The population growths in the second half of the previous 48 years were only about 14% in big cities and about 50% in small cities compared to the first half. As a result, the urbanization effect in small cities has actually been higher than in big cities. Cluster analysis was also conducted to analyze the relationship between population growth and annual-mean temperature increase in 30 different stations. As a result, temperature increase in more than 60% of the stations considered matched the population growth. Some urban stations have smaller temperature increases than population growth, while some rural stations have higher temperature increases than population growth. Therefore, further research on local environmental factors should be carried out to better understand these local temperature changes.

An update on the conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax: global and local population estimates, trends, and threats

Summary The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is an iconic species and an indicator of healthy grassland and farmland ecosystems. It formerly ranged almost continuously from north-western Africa and Iberia to central Asia, encompassing France, Italy, southern Russia, and the Middle East, occupying natural grass steppes, pastured grasslands, and extensive cereal farmland. Today, two main distribution sub-ranges persist: a western one comprising the Iberian Peninsula, France, and Sardinia, and an eastern one encompassing mainly southern Russia and Kazakhstan but reaching north-western China and isolated spots in Turkey. We describe the changes that occurred across the species’ range and were documented during the last and current centuries and revise the status and trends of Little Bustard populations throughout that range. We provide the first global estimate of the world population, as well as those of the two sub-ranges, discussing the main threats and global conservation implications of these estimates. Historically abundant in Europe and northern Africa, the Little Bustard has strongly declined over the second half of the 20th century, becoming extinct in at least 15 countries. Such spectacular regression is mainly associated with land-use change and agricultural intensification. Other threats are legal hunting, poaching, and collision with powerlines. In the last two decades, the species has severely declined (c.6% yearly rate) in its traditional population stronghold, the Iberian Peninsula. Conversely, there is evidence of recent population growth in some areas of the Eastern range, but increases are unquantified and require further study. Many populations are probably small and scattered, with no reliable information on size and trends. Nevertheless, the Eastern range may now be considered the species’ stronghold with more than half the world’s population. The diverging dynamics and ecological differences between the two sub-ranges require a global conservation strategy that treats each as a different conservation unit to assure the species’ recovery.

Hidden patterns of sustainable development in Asia with underlying global change correlations

As the most populous continent, and its dominant role in the global economy, Asia is arguably the most important region for understanding global change. To evaluate and guide humanity’s growth toward a more sustainable future, indicators and their composite indices have been adopted as key tools resulting in a paralyzing amount for decision-makers, practitioners, and researchers to choose from. Although research has improved understanding of development metrics for evaluating and monitoring global change, making progress toward sustainability remains as open as ever. Building from previous work, 44 Asian nations were studied using four guiding research questions: (i) What are the hidden dimensions within a collection of known sustainable development indices, and what differentiates winning locations from losing ones? (ii) Are the three major divisions of sustainability (economic growth, social equity, environmental integrity) equally supported by these development measuring initiatives? (iii) How do common global change indicators statistically respond to the canonical development dimensions? (iv) Do recent population growth and urbanization trends move humanity closer to planetary sustainability? Those questions were explored using four amassing methodological stages. First, six hidden development dimensions (factor axes) were revealed while maintaining over 80% of 35 known sustainable development indices’ variation. The dimensions expressed: (F1) human well-being synergies; (F2) environmentally efficient happiness; (F3) ecological integrity to economic performance trade-off; (F4) peace, prosperity, and natural resources protection; (F5) economic and political liberty; and (F6) generosity. Second, a mega-index of sustainable development (MISD) was created by combining the six latent dimensions. Third, spatial patterns of the hidden development axes, MISD, and nine common global change metrics were explored. Fourth, using global and local inferential tests, associations between the canonical development dimensions, MISD, and global change indicators were made. The human well-being synergies dimension (F1) explained over one-third of the total variance, and positively clustered in northern Asia and negatively in southern Asia. The MISD ranked Singapore best, followed by Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, and Malaysia; Afghanistan ranked worst, then China, Syria, Russia, Turkmenistan, and India. Overall, improved sustainable development position came through increased population density, decreased country area, lower latitude, and a greater proportion of urban land cover. This cross-country analysis reiterates an underrepresentation of biogeochemical (ecosphere) conditions across development indices; moreover, spatial patterns of favorable development were rarely found simultaneous. Trade-offs and the lack of spatial concordance will make achieving sustainability a very difficult task in an urbanizing world without limits.

Cyclic behaviour of compacted black soil-coal wash matrix

Recent population and industrial growth require innovative approaches for recycling construction materials for civil infrastructure such as railways, roads, and building foundations. This study adopts a combination of expansive black soil blended with coal wash (CW), a by-product of coal mining, to produce a resilient substructural fill for railroads. When considered individually, expansive clays and CW are prone to high swell pressure, shrinking and swelling, excessive degradation, and relatively low bearing capacity, properties that would adversely affect infrastructure. This current study is a laboratory characterisation of soil and CW mixtures in relation to Atterberg Limits, Particle Size Distribution (PSD), and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. A mini-compaction procedure is used to assess the changes in maximum dry density and optimum moisture content. This is followed by a series of consolidated-undrained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests of the mixtures. Our findings show that CW can reduce the plasticity, susceptibility to shrinkage, and the swell pressure of clay soil. When clay is blended with CW there is a significant improvement in the undrained shear strength, resilient modulus, and yield response before failure, as well as the number of loading cycles before failure. Furthermore, the inclusion of CW to improve the mechanical properties of soil also reduced the large amount of space needed to store CW.

Technical, economic, and environmental analyses of CCHP systems with waste incineration power plant as prime mover

ABSTRACT In recent years, population growth and community development have increased the volume of waste in many parts of the world, including in Iran. If management measures are not taken to reduce the volume of waste at the surface, the problem of increasing waste will become a major and serious threat to human life. Therefore, incineration plants will be built to reduce the volume of waste, which have potential to generate power. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is potential analysis of exhaust gases from the incineration plant for use in the combined cooling, heating, and power system, as well as the environmental analysis of the power plant. Using Aspen software, an initial model of the trigeneration cycle power plant is designed and the layout and arrangement of the cycle are accomplished. The mass flow of waste consumed at the power plant is 8333 kg/h and power generation is 3 MW. Heat losses from boiler exhaust gases are inserted into a heat exchanger modeled by EES software to meet the heat requirement. The heat exchanger efficiency is 70%, and the outlet water temperature is calculated as 70°C. The exhaust gases from the heat exchanger have been fed into the water-ammonia absorption chiller to meet the cooling requirement. The cooling capacity of the first evaporator is 1111 kW and for the second evaporator, it is calculated to be 529 kW. The power plant energy efficiency is 35%, and when it is converted into a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system the total efficiency of the system increases by 70%. The economic feasibility of the project has been checked, and the payback period has been estimated to be about 2.5 years. This study shows that CCHP systems using incineration plants as prime movers can play an important role in providing energy requirements and sustainable development.

Global acceleration of lake sediment accumulation rates associated with recent human population growth and land-use changes

Global acceleration of lake sediment accumulation rates associated with recent human population growth and land-use changes

A long road to recovery: dynamics and ecology of the marbled rockcod (Notothenia rossii, family: Nototheniidae) at South Georgia, 50 years after overexploitation

Abstract Exploitation is one of the major drivers of change in marine ecosystems. Following discovery in 1775, South Georgia saw sequential overexploitation of living resources, including seals, whales, and fish. Although exploitation is now tightly regulated, the ecosystem is still recovering. Marbled rockcod, Notothenia rossii (Richardson 1844), was the first fish species to be commercially exploited and high catches between 1967 and 1972 resulted in dramatic stock decline. Here, we use 30 years of trawl survey data to provide the first evidence of a sustained increase in the N. rossii population starting two decades after the prohibition of targeted fishing in 1985. The way species respond to change is mediated in part by trophic relationships with other organisms. We present the first multi-year, spatially-resolved comparison of adult N. rossii diet at South Georgia, highlighting a variable diet with less reliance on Antarctic krill than previously thought. Life history factors and possible heavy predation on early life stages might have delayed their recovery while diet plasticity potentially supported recent population growth. Due to the dynamic ecosystem at South Georgia and questions over catch reports from the period of heaviest exploitation, it is unlikely the current ecosystem could support a recovery to estimated pre-exploitation levels.

Binary Sensors-Based Privacy-Preserved Activity Recognition of Elderly Living Alone Using an RNN.

The recent growth of the elderly population has led to the requirement for constant home monitoring as solitary living becomes popular. This protects older people who live alone from unwanted instances such as falling or deterioration caused by some diseases. However, although wearable devices and camera-based systems can provide relatively precise information about human motion, they invade the privacy of the elderly. One way to detect the abnormal behavior of elderly residents under the condition of maintaining privacy is to equip the resident’s house with an Internet of Things system based on a non-invasive binary motion sensor array. We propose to concatenate external features (previous activity and begin time-stamp) along with extracted features with a bi-directional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) neural network to recognize the activities of daily living with a higher accuracy. The concatenated features are classified by a fully connected neural network (FCNN). The proposed model was evaluated on open dataset from the Center for Advanced Studies in Adaptive Systems (CASAS) at Washington State University. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperformed state-of-the-art models with a margin of more than 6.25% of the F1 score on the same dataset.

Challenges and opportunities for sustaining coastal wetlands and oyster reefs in the southeastern United States

Formed at the confluence of marine and fresh waters, estuaries experience both the seaside pressures of rising sea levels and increasing storm severity, and watershed and precipitation changes that are shifting the quality and quantity of freshwater and sediments delivered from upstream sources. Boating, shoreline hardening, harvesting pressure, and other signatures of human activity are also increasing as populations swell in coastal regions. Given this shifting landscape of pressures, the factors most threatening to estuary health and stability are often uncertain. To identify the greatest contemporary threats to coastal wetlands and oyster reefs across the southeastern United States (Mississippi to North Carolina), we summarized recent population growth and land-cover change and surveyed estuarine management and science experts. From 1996 to 2019, human population growth in the region varied from a 17% decrease to a 171% increase (mean = +43%) with only 5 of the 72 SE US counties losing population, and nearly half growing by more than 40%. Individual counties experienced between 999 and 19,253 km2 of new development (mean: 5725 km2), with 1–5% (mean: 2.6%) of undeveloped lands undergoing development over this period across the region. Correspondingly, our survey of 169 coastal experts highlighted development, shoreline hardening, and upstream modifications to freshwater flow as the most important local threats facing coastal wetlands. Similarly, experts identified development, upstream modifications to freshwater flow, and overharvesting as the most important local threats to oyster reefs. With regards to global threats, experts categorized sea level rise as the most pressing to wetlands, and acidification and precipitation changes as the most pressing to oyster reefs. Survey respondents further identified that more research, driven by collaboration among scientists, engineers, industry professionals, and managers, is needed to assess how precipitation changes, shoreline hardening, and sea level rise are affecting coastal ecosystem stability and function. Due to the profound role of humans in shaping estuarine health, this work highlights that engaging property owners, recreators, and municipalities to implement strategies to improve estuarine health will be vital for sustaining coastal systems in the face of global change.

Secularism and American Political Behavior

Abstract The recent growth of the secular population in the United States has implications for American politics. However, our understanding of these implications has been hindered by oversimplified concepts and measures that equate secularism with non-religion. We separate the two concepts, distinguishing “non-religiosity,” or the absence of religion, from “secularism,” or a positive embrace of secular beliefs and identities. Using original national-sample cross-sectional and panel surveys, we introduce new measures of secularism, evaluate their properties, and assess their connection to political attitudes and behavior. We find a clear distinction between secularism and non-religiosity in the American public and show that secularism is more closely related than non-religiosity to political attitudes, identifications, and engagement. In fact, while secularism is related to changes over time in political orientations, non-religiosity is not.

How Will Rwandan Land Use/Land Cover Change under High Population Pressure and Changing Climate?

In recent decades, population growth and economic development have greatly influenced the pattern of land use/land cover (LULC) in Rwanda. Nevertheless, LULC patterns and their underlying change mechanisms under future climate conditions are not well known. Therefore, it is particularly important to explore the direction of LULC transfer in the study area, identify the factors driving the transfer of different types of LULC and their changes, and simulate future LULC patterns under future climate conditions. Based on LULC analyses of Rwanda in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2015, the LULC pattern of Rwanda in the next 30 years was simulated using an LULC transition matrix, random forest sampling, the Markov chain model, and the PLUS model. The results showed that LULC change in the study area primarily comprised a decrease in forest area and expansion of cropland area, accompanied by a small increase in grassland area and an annual increase in urban land area. Prior to 2000, the LULC in Rwanda was mainly converted from forest and grassland to cropland, with the ratio being 0.72:0.28. After 2010, the LULC was mainly converted from forest to grassland and cropland, with the ratio being 0.83:0.17. Changes in forests, grasslands, and cropland are driven by multiple factors, whereas changes in wetlands, water, urban land, and unused land are more likely to be driven by a single factor. The existing trend of LULC change will continue for the next 30 years, and the future LULC pattern will exhibit a trend in which cropland area will increase in the west and grassland area will decrease, whereas grassland area will increase in the east and cropland area will decrease.

Basin-wide water demand estimation using RGB color detection of built-up area from satellite imagery

The unavailability of as-built drawings and population data in primarily rural east central Java, Indonesia, presents a challenge to effectively estimate the total demand of a proposed large-scale retrofit water supply scheme. A simple RGB color detection method is employed to analyse satellite imageries extracted from Google Earth. The applicable range of RGB spectrum for typical rooftops is ascertained based on image inspection and the candidate areas identified are filtered, smoothened and manually cleaned-up to produce the total built-up area by pixel calibration. Water demand is then estimated based on assumed population equivalent per standard residential unit and consumption rate. The preliminary estimate is further corroborated with the most recent census and population growth rate. Result show that the approach taken is a cost-effective and efficient way for large-scale areal approximation.

Genetic diversity and morphological characterisation of three turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L., 1758) populations along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast

Turbot (Scophthalmus maximusL., 1758) is a valuable commercial fish species classified as endangered. The conservation and sustainability of the turbot populations require knowledge of the population’s genetic structure and constant monitoring of its biodiversity. The present study was performed to evaluate the population structure of turbot along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast using seven pairs of microsatellites, two mitochondrial DNA (COIII and CR) and 23 morphological (15 morphometric and 8 meristic) markers. A total of 72 specimens at three locations were genotyped and 59 alleles were identified. The observed number of alleles of microsatellites was more than the effective number of alleles. The overall mean values of observed (Ho) and expected heterogeneity (He) were 0.638 and 0.685. A high rate of migration between turbot populations (overall mean of Nm = 17.484), with the maximum value (19.498) between Shabla and Nesebar locations, was observed. This result corresponded to the low level of genetic differentiation amongst these populations (overall mean Fst = 0.014), but there was no correlation between genetic and geographical distance. A high level of genetic diversity in the populations was also observed. The average Garza-Williamson M index value for all populations was low (0.359), suggesting a reduction in genetic variation due to a founder effect or a genetic bottleneck. Concerning mitochondrial DNA, a total number of 17 haplotypes for COIII and 41 haplotypes for CR were identified. The mitochondrial DNA control region showed patterns with high haplotype diversity and very low nucleotide diversity, indicating a significant number of closely-related haplotypes and suggesting that this population may have undergone a recent expansion. Tajima’s D test and Fu’s FS test suggested recent population growth. Pairwise Fst values were very low. The admixture and lack of genetic structuring found pointed to the populations analysed probably belonging to the same genetic unit. Therefore, a proper understanding and a sound knowledge of the level and distribution of genetic diversity in turbot is an important prerequisite for successful sustainable development and conservation strategies to preserve their evolutionary potential.

The Difficulties of Italian Muslim Political Mobilization: Anti-Muslim Sentiment and Internal Fragmentation

This paper focuses on the political participation and mobilization of Muslims in Italy, an understudied topic. A few existing studies outline that Italian Muslim involvement in the political process has been quite low on both the local and national levels. However, along with the notable recent growth of the Muslim population in Italy, a certain evolution of political mobilization has occurred as well. This paper will analyze how Italian Muslim political participation, both through non-electoral and electoral channels, has evolved through time. It will question what are the key issues and challenges for participation; and to what extent homeland politics and foreign policy events have affected political mobilization. It will argue that even though some limited evolution of political mobilization has occurred in recent year, the Italian Muslim political participation and impact both remain rather limited due to the strong anti-Muslim sentiment in Italy, as well as due to internal fragmentation of Muslim communities.