Feature Article

Global environmental change necessitates increased predictive capacity; for forests, recent advances in technology provide the response to this challenge. “Next-generation” remote-sensing instruments can measure forest biogeochemistry and structural change, and individual-based models can predict the fates of vast numbers of simulated trees, all growing and competing according to their ecological attributes in altered environments across large areas. Application of these models at continental scales is now feasible using current computing power.

Categorizing the choices in coastal infrastructure that are available to policy makers will allow for comparisons of their potential impacts on ecosystems and of their value in preparation for long-term sea-level rise. Although similar approaches have been described elsewhere in different policy contexts, this article focuses on evaluating physical infrastructure types – including hybrid structures that combine landforms with concrete and steel elements – based on historical differences in engineering practices.

Multivariate statistical techniques, such as cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), were applied for evaluation of spatial variations and interpretation of large complex water quality data set of the Ganga river basin, generated during one year (2013-2014) monitoring of eight water parameters at seven different sites. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped seven sampling sites into three clusters, i.e., relatively low polluted (LP), medium polluted (MP) and highly polluted (HP) sites based on the similarity of water quality characteristics.

The objective of the study was to examine the cross-sectional relationships between standing time, obesity, and metabolic syndrome alongside and independent of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA).

The prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections is increasing in the United States. However, few studies have addressed their epidemiology in children. To phenotypically identify CRE isolates cultured from patients 1–17 years of age, we used antimicrobial susceptibilities of Enterobacteriaceae reported to 300 laboratories participating in The Surveillance Network–USA database during January 1999–July 2012.

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has alleged that Volkswagen Group of America (VW) violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by developing and installing emissions control system 'defeat devices' (software) in model year 2009–2015 vehicles with 2.0 litre diesel engines. VW has admitted the inclusion of defeat devices. On-road emissions testing suggests that in-use NOx emissions for these vehicles are a factor of 10 to 40 above the EPA standard. In this paper we quantify the human health impacts and associated costs of the excess emissions.

Whether or not an increase in meltwater will make ice sheets move more quickly has been contentious, because water lubricates the ice–rock interface and speeds up the ice, but also stimulates the development of efficient drainage; now, a long-term and large-area study of a land-terminating margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet finds that more meltwater does not equal higher velocity.

The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences global climate as well as extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and tropical cyclones, leading to large societal impacts globally have shown that El Niño—the warm phase of ENSO—effectively discharges oceanic heat into the central to eastern North Pacific basin through the subsurface ocean after its wintertime peak, resulting in high tropical cyclone activity during the following tropical cyclone peak season in the eastern North Pacific, which has significant implications for seasonal prediction of tropical cyclone activity in the

Researchers hope to show that using the gas as a raw material could make an impact on climate change.

On 29 September, the XPRIZE Foundation based in Culver City, California, announced a 4½-year competition that will award US$20 million to the research team that can come up with the best way to turn carbon dioxide from a liability into an asset.

The island nation of Kiribati is one of the world's most vulnerable to rising sea levels. But residents may have to leave well before the ocean claims their homes.

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