1,721,034 research outputs found
Understanding the coupling effect of urban structure, vegetation and landscape on Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) in Europe
No full textThe past century has seen dramatic increases in global temperatures and mounting urbanization. As a result of these events, the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect has received growing attention in scientific research worldwide. However, its global expansion trend and impact mechanisms have not yet been sufficiently explored. A global search was initially conducted to collect all available relevant publications, and semantic analysis was performed to extract all cities affected by the SUHI to understand how the phenomenon is expanding globally and impacting more cities in different geographic areas. The Shannon evenness index was employed to identify the spatial locations (hotspots) across the globe where UHI-related research has been concentrated in multiple cities over the last 120 years. Finally, Europe was selected as a testbed as it contains the most hotspots for conducting an analysis to understand the coupling effect of vegetation structure, urban structure and landscape on land surface temperature (LST). Multiple data sources were investigated, including the vegetation structure-related NDVI, biomass, tree height and tree cover density; urban structure-related building height, imperviousness density, building compactness and road density; and urban landscape-related latitude, longitude, heterogeneity, and population density. We obtained 788 European functional urban areas and their respective urban cores, and then extracted mean values of impact features. Feature importance analysis, using SHAP, allowed us to assess the primary drivers of SUHI across Europe. The coupling relationship between LST and impact features highlights the need for systematic planning of urban landscapes. This study will undoubtedly be of interest to scientists investigating the SUHI effect and its trends. Stakeholders will acquire a broader perspective and deeper understanding of SUHI in order to engage in more effective urban planning to offset and mitigate the phenomenon's adverse effects in the context of increasing climate change and urbanization
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
RESPONSE OF BEETLE COMMUNITIES FIVE YEARS AFTER WILDFIRE IN MEDITERRANEAN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
Full text linkWildfires are one of the most important drivers of forest composition and biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin.
Many studies have demonstrated that fires can affect insect diversity by altering the functional traits of species groups. We
examined the 5-year response of beetles to wildfires by assessing patterns of community composition across a gradient
from forest interior to forest edge to burnt forest area in Southern Italy. Our objective was to characterize the relationship
between distance from the forest edge and occurrence of beetle taxonomic assemblages. We analyzed the composition,
similarity, and dominance of ground beetle communities in randomly selected plots located along the forest-to-burned-area
gradient. We found a negative relationship between community similarity and distance from the forest edge; moreover, the
composition of species assemblages (within each family) became increasingly similar with proximity to the forest edge. As
the distance from the forest edge into the burned area became greater the dominance of few species increased, and species
composition shifted toward habitat generalists. The results partially support the notion that the differences in beetle
communities probably are driven by habitat changes caused by fires, especially for those taxa with many specialist species
in feeding and oviposition habitats. Understanding the biological effects of wildfires is necessary prior to design
management strategies and policies for counteracting the loss of biodiversity at the global, regional and national levels
A tridimensional framework for governance in the wildland-urban interface using Pyro-Socio-Ecological Zones
No full textZones where urban land covers meet wildland areas have become a critical point of interaction between human settlements and natural ecosystems at risk of wildfire. These zones span diverse socioeconomic, governance, and ecological dimensions that are often not accounted for with frequently used methodologies. We developed and mapped a tri-dimensional Pyro-Socio-Ecological Zone (PSEZ) framework based on a suite of composite indicators that account for disparate Ecological, Socioeconomic, and Governance contexts in southern Italy (IT) and southern California (CA), USA. In CA, PSEZ with high governance consistently present a lower number of wildfires compared to PSEZ with low governance values. In IT, PSEZ with low governance indicate a lower number of wildfires and more burned area while PSEZ with high governance levels had more wildfires and less burned area. Overall, we found that the distribution of PSEZs and wildfire governance implications differed between CA and IT, underscoring greater spatial fragmentation, disparate contexts, and complex socio-ecological interactions in these peri-urban areas. Findings highlight that care is warranted when applying USA derived methods and concepts to fire-prone, landscapes in different geographies and contexts
Cost-effectiveness of fuel removals in mediterraneanwildland-urban interfaces threatened by wildfires
Full text linkOne of the most important environmental issues in Europe is the expansion of wildland-urban interfaces (WUIs) and how this trend may affect the occurrence of wildfires. Land use changes, the abandonment of farmland, and reduced grazing has led to an increase in forested areas with an accumulation and continuity of surface fuels available for combustion. Policies based exclusively on extensive fire suppression have become ineffective in different parts of Europe. To reduce the threat of damaging and costly wildfires, European countries must develop integrated fuel management programs. This approach has proven to be one of the most cost-effective for preventing wildfires and reducing economic loss. To this end, we have conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis to estimate how much fuel must be treated to determine fuel load removals with the lowest cost per hectare of unaffected WUIs threatened by wildfires in southern Italy (Apulia region). The analysis was carried out in three stages: (i) simulation of fire behavior in different fuel load reduction and wind direction scenarios; (ii) estimation of WUIs affected by wildfires within the study landscape; and (iii) the application of a cost-effectiveness ratio. Our results highlight the need to provide a method to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of fuel removal given the increasing number and extent of WUIs in the Mediterranean landscape of Europe. Optimizing the cost-effectiveness analysis of fuel removals offers the basis for appropriately assessing wildfire prevention and budgeting financial resources. Further, this method may be readily applied toward allocating any type of intervention in landscape management
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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