An economical and optimal construction of rainwater storage cistern in the Loess Plateau of Gansu is introduced. The collection alternatives of rainwater showed a dramatic difference on cistern water quality. Roof-yard catchment systems can harvest drinking water that generally meets the international guidelines. Among the tested disinfectants - chlorine dioxide, potassium permanganate, chloramine

Qanats are renewable water supply systems that have sustained human settlement on the Iranian plateau for millennia. By their very nature, Qanats have encouraged sustainable water use. Recent intense socio-economic changes in Iran have introduced other water harvesting methods like dams and deep wells. The short run advantages of new methods caused Qanats to be laid aside even though the applicati

In this paper we propose a technique to enhance the performance of a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID)-based control structure for Depth-of-Hypnosis control in total intravenous anesthesia when set-point changes are required during the maintenance phase. In particular, the PID controller, tuned for disturbance rejection, is integrated with a feedforward action based on Model Predictive Contro

Traits that affect organismal fitness are often very genetically variable. This genetic variation is vital for populations to adapt to their environments, but it is also surprising given that nature (after all) “selects” the best genotypes at the expense of those that fall short. Explaining the extensive genetic variation of fitness-related traits is thus a longstanding puzzle in evolutionary biol

Alarming water shortage and increased water scarcity worldwide has led to increased interests in alternative water sources. Rainwater harvesting is one of them which is getting more and more attention. There is a huge potential for generalization and extension of rainwater harvesting system as an alternative water supply. This is especially important for arid and semi-arid regions where the water

This paper revisits the glazed redware Scanian jug, brought to the fore by Kulturen archaeologist Anders W. Mårtensson in 1973. Characterized by its faceted base and distinct handle, the jug stands out from its contemporaries. This brief paper presents new chemical data for the Scanian jug, its most common rim forms and a discussion on its area of production. So far, no medieval ceramic production

The ongoing climate change has been increasingly reflected in climate observations around the world, both in terms of averages and extremes, and attributed to anthropogenic climate forcing. When it comes to changing extremes, attribution to climate change is now especially well-established for heat-related extremes worldwide. Understanding changes in extremes is important for climate adaptation as

This study uniquely combines advanced continental-scale data from two distinct sources: pollen-based past land cover (paleoecology) and ancient DNA (aDNA), developing a novel statistical model for spatiotemporal reconstructions of past land use across Europe. This groundbreaking approach integrates paleo-pollen and aDNA data, providing unprecedented insights into the environmental impacts of Holoc

This study uniquely combines advanced continental-scale data fromtwo distinct sources: pollen-based land cover (PbLC) and ancient DNA(aDNA), developing a novel statistical model for spatiotemporal reconstructionsof past land use across Europe.The aDNA data serves as a proxy for human habitation, differentiatinganthropogenic and natural land cover from PbLC reconstruction. Thiswill be accomplished

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are essential for carbon-neutral cities, yet how to effectively allocate them remains a question. Carbon neutrality requires city-led climate action plans that incorporate both indirect and direct contributions of NBS. Here we assessed the carbon emissions mitigation potential of NBS in European cities, focusing particularly on commonly overlooked indirect pathways, fo

Although urban scenario planning is widely applied for exploring various directions of urban development, it often has high requirements on the medium of quantitative information analysis and transformation. Thus, this study establishes a method of combining scenario planning with a spatial dynamic planning support system to predict urban growth. Specifically, a scenario-based spatial dynamic mode

An ideal form of smart city planning would focus on the availability of urban amenities that can meet the basic needs of a resident’s material life, civil connections, and humanistic spirit. Previous studies have concentrated on analyzing the spatial distribution of urban services, with less attention on their contribution as local urban amenities. In this study, we propose a spatial dynamic model

Accurate maps of past land cover and human land use are necessary for studying the impact of anthropogenic land-cover changes, such as deforestation, on the climate. The maps of past land cover should ideally be separated into naturally occurring vegetation and human-induced changes, thereby enabling the quantification of the effect of human land use on the past climate. A Bayesian hierarchical mo

Over the past two centuries, coastal regions have experienced various anthropogenic environmental stressors such as ocean acidification, pollution, warming, and deoxygenation that have impacted benthic marine life. Understanding the severity and potential outcomes of such changes is crucial for supporting effective environmental management strategies.Benthic foraminifera, protists with calcite tes

Human activities in coastal areas have accelerated during the last 200 years. Environmental changes resulting in a combination of three threats, i.e., deoxygenation, warming, and ocean acidification, impact particularly sub-polar regions. To better understand these environmental challenges, we need to develop tools to compare our present situation with previous periods less impacted by anthropogen

The Baltic Sea is strongly affected by the combined stressors of deoxygenation, acidification, and eutrophication. These are primarily derived from 1) anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which increase atmospheric temperatures, enhance surface water stratification, reduce oxygen solubility, and alter carbonate chemistry, and 2) nutrient pollution from the Baltic Sea’s heavily populated coastline. Togethe

Human-induced impacts are increasing pressure on coastal ecosystems, particularly on benthic ecosystems in high-latitude regions. It has become evident that three of the greatest marine environmental challenges related to anthropogenic activity are warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. The effect of these environmental changes on our uncertain future has created a need to understand the

In this master's thesis a fully automated method is presented for seg-menting bones and cartilage in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of theknee. The knee joint is the most complex joint in the human body andsupports the weight of the whole body. This complexity and acute task ofthe knee joint leads to a disabling disease called Osteoarthritis among theadult population. The disease leads to loss o