Feature Article

Discriminating the climate impacts of half-degree warming increments is high on the post-Paris science agenda. Here the researchers argue that evidence from the observational record provides useful guidance for such assessments.

The past decades have been characterized by a growing number of climatic anomalies. As these anomalies tend to occur suddenly and unexpectedly, it is often difficult to procure empirical evidence of their effects on natural populations. We analysed how the recent sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the northeastern Pacific Ocean affects body condition, nutritional status, and immune competence of California sea lion pups.

The management of menstruation has come to the fore as a barrier to girls' education attainment in low income contexts. Interventions have been proposed and piloted, but the emerging nature of the field means limited evidence is available to understand their pathways of effect. This study describes and compares schoolgirls' experiences of menstruation in rural Uganda at the conclusion of a controlled trial of puberty education and sanitary pad provision to elucidate pathways of effect in the interventions.

Cumulative photovoltaic (PV) power installed in 2016 was equal to 305 GW. Five countries (China, Japan, Germany, the USA, and Italy) shared about 70% of the global power. End-of-life (EoL) management of waste PV modules requires alternative strategies than landfill, and recycling is a valid option. Technological solutions are already available in the market and environmental benefits are highlighted by the literature, while economic advantages are not well defined. The aim of this paper is investigating the financial feasibility of crystalline silicon (Si) PV module-recycling processes.

Land acquisition for development project is not a new topic of discussion at least in a developing nation as ours. In recent times, we happened to have witnessed a wide range of protests and chaos relating to land issues in the country. Land is needed for industrialisation, which is the prime concern for economic growth, but the central concern of development should be the welfare all sections of the society rather than just economic growth. The article aims to understand the complexities of development, keeping land acquisition and its consequences at the forefront.

Climate change can increase the risk of conditions that exceed human thermoregulatory capacity. Although numerous studies report increased mortality associated with extreme heat events, quantifying the global risk of heat-related mortality remains challenging due to a lack of comparable data on heat-related deaths. Here we conducted a global analysis of documented lethal heat events to identify the climatic conditions associated with human death and then quantified the current and projected occurrence of such deadly climatic conditions worldwide.

This study proposes the new hydrological drought index, Korean Surface Water Supply Index (KSWSI), which overcomes some of the limitations in the calculation of previous SWSI applied in Korea and conducts the probabilistic drought forecasts using KSWSI. In this study, all hydrometeorological variables in the Geum River basin were investigated and appropriate variables were selected as KSWSI components for each sub-basin. And whereby only the normal distributions are applied to all drought components, probability distributions suitable for each KSWSI component were estimated.

The dramatic warming of the Arctic over the last three decades has reduced both the thickness and extent of sea ice, opening opportunities for business in diverse sectors and increasing human exposure to meteorological hazards in the Arctic. It has been suggested that these changes in environmental conditions have led to an increase in extreme cyclones in the region, therefore increasing this hazard.

Effective conservation of the endangered tiger depends upon reliable knowledge of factors driving genetic differentiation and population connectivity.

Cathepsin L (CTSL) and B (CTSB) have a crucial role in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and tissue remodeling, which is a prominent feature of fibrogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine the role and clinical significance of these cathepsins in liver fibrosis.

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