Month: September 2024
Big data applications: overview, challenges and future
Abstract
Big Data (i.e., social big data, vehicular big data, healthcare big data etc) points to massive and complex data, that require special technologies and approaches for storage, processing, and analysis. Similarly, big data applications are software and systems utilizing large and complex datasets to extract insights, support decision-making, and address diverse business and societal challenges. Recently, the significance of big data applications has grown immensely for organizations across diverse sectors as they increasingly rely on insights derived from data. The increasing reliance on data insights has rendered traditional technologies and platforms inefficient due to scalability limitations and performance issues. This study contributes by identifying key domains impacted by big data, examining its effect on decision-making, addressing inherent complexities and opportunities, exploring core technologies, and offering solutions for potential concerns. Additionally, it conducts a comparative analysis to demonstrate the superiority of this research. These contributions provide valuable insights into the evolving landscape shaped by big data applications.
Modelling climatic variable impacts on ground-level ozone in Malaysia using backward trajectory and Generative Additive Models
Abstract
Climate change has a recognized global effect on ozone concentration, yet its impact varies across regions and countries. Local studies are imperative for precisely evaluating the accurate, robust, and up-to-date relationship between climatic variables and ozone concentration at regional scale. In this work, we elucidate the spatiotemporal and seasonal variability of ground-level ozone (O3) in Malaysia using backward trajectory and Generative Additive Model. Concentrations of O3 and other air pollutants (NO2, CO, SO2 and PM2.5) from a total of 43 air quality stations across the country from 2107 to 2020 have been analyzed along with the meteorological auxiliary data. Ozone pollution is susceptible in the Central, Northern and Southern of Peninsular Malaysia, and occurs at different times subject to the monsoon variability. In the Central zone, 60% of days during March and April had unhealthy ozone levels with a maximum daily averaged O3 73.5 ± 9.3 ppb. The backward trajectory analysis indicates that ozone pollution in the Central zone is strongly affected by northeasterly transboundary air pollution from Indochina and East China. The Generative Additive Model analysis highlights O3 variability in the Central zone is possibly modulated by stratospheric air intrusion and PM2.5 inhibitory effect that suppressed surface solar radiation and weakened O3 production. Overall, the work advances the understanding of O3 variability in Malaysia, provides valuable insights into complex interplay between O3 concentrations and climatic variables, and offers a framework for future research in air quality modeling.
Modeling of surface water allocation under current and future climate change in Keleta Catchment, Awash River Basin, Ethiopia
Abstract
The water resources of Keleta catchment in the Awash River basin are utilized by various users. However, the current and future demands for water and its availability in the catchment have not been quantified. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the current and future water demand and availability by employing multiple climate models under the representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) scenarios. A power transformation method was applied for precipitation and linear shifting and scaling techniques were used for temperature to obtain bias-corrected future climate data. These bias-corrected daily precipitation and temperature datasets were utilized to simulate surface water availability for reference (1971–2000) and future climate scenarios (2041–2070) periods under RCP 4.5 and 8.5 using the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) hydrological model. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model was employed to assess water allocation within the catchment.The HEC-HMS model simulation results revealed that the simulated hydrograph better captured the pattern of observed hydrograph for both calibration and validation periods. The results of the maximum and minimum temperature for the future period from 2041 to 2070 revealed increase on average by 1.62 °C and 1.43 °C for RCP 4.5, while by 2.26 °C and 1.71 °C for RCP 8.5, respectively. The average annual water availability and demand under current condition were found to be 247.4 million cubic meters (MCM) and 7.13 MCM, respectively. Future surface water availability is expected to increase by 23.9% under RCP 4.5 and 28.9% under RCP 8.5 compared to the refernce period. The WEAP simulation revealed monthly variations in water availability, highlighting unmet demand during the dry months of December to February due to reduced water availability during this period. This study suggests for integrated planning and management of the catchment area, particularly focusing on various water resource development activities, especially during dry seasons.
Optimizing climate model selection in regional studies using an adaptive weather type based framework: a case study for extreme heat in Belgium
Abstract
Selecting climate model projections is a common practice for regional and local studies. This process often relies on local rather than synoptic variables. Even when synoptic weather types are considered, these are not related to the variable or climate impact driver of interest. Therefore, most selection procedures may not sufficiently account for atmospheric dynamics and climate change impact uncertainties. This study outlines a selection methodology that addresses both these shortcomings. Our methodology first optimizes the Lamb Weather Type classification for the variable and region of interest. In the next step, the representation of the historical synoptic dynamics in Global Climate Models (GCMs) is evaluated and accordingly, low-performing models are excluded. In the last step, indices are introduced that quantify the climate change signals related to the impact of interest. Using these indices, a scoring method results in assessing the suitability of GCMs. To illustrate the applicability of the methodology, a case study of extreme heat in Belgium was carried out. This framework offers a comprehensive method for selecting relevant climate projections, applicable in model ensemble-based research for various climate variables and impact drivers.
Communications enhance sustainable intentions despite other ongoing crises
Abstract
There is an ongoing trend toward more frequent and multiple crises. While there is a clear need for behaviors to become more sustainable to address the climate crisis, how to achieve this against the backdrop of other crises is unknown. Using a sample of 18,805 participants from the UK, we performed a survey experiment to investigate if communication messages provide a useful tool in nudging intentions toward improved sustainability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that, despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, media messaging resulted in increases in sustainability-related intentions for all our communication messaging conditions. Specifically, after our communication was presented, (i) almost 80% of people who were not currently recycling their surgical masks reported their intention to do so; there was a > 70% increase in both (ii) the number of people likely to pick up face mask litter and (iii) the number of people willing to disinfect and reuse their filtering facepiece (FFP) masks 4–6 times, while (iv) there was an increase by 165% in those who would wash cloth masks at 60 °C. Our results highlight that communication messaging can play a useful role in minimizing the trade-offs between multiple crises, as well as maximizing any synergies. To support this, decision-makers and practitioners should encourage the delivery of sustainability advice via multiple sources and across different types of media, while taking steps to address potential misinformation.
COVID-19 vaccine refusal is driven by deliberate ignorance and cognitive distortions
Abstract
Vaccine hesitancy was a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. A common but sometimes ineffective intervention to reduce vaccine hesitancy involves providing information on vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and related probabilities. Could biased processing of this information contribute to vaccine refusal? We examined the information inspection of 1200 U.S. participants with anti-vaccination, neutral, or pro-vaccination attitudes before they stated their willingness to accept eight different COVID-19 vaccines. All participants—particularly those who were anti-vaccination—frequently ignored some of the information. This deliberate ignorance, especially toward probabilities of extreme side effects, was a stronger predictor of vaccine refusal than typically investigated demographic variables. Computational modeling suggested that vaccine refusals among anti-vaccination participants were driven by ignoring even inspected information. In the neutral and pro-vaccination groups, vaccine refusal was driven by distorted processing of side effects and their probabilities. Our findings highlight the necessity for interventions tailored to individual information-processing tendencies.
High-resolution projections of future FWI conditions for Portugal according to CMIP6 future climate scenarios
Abstract
Wildfires are catastrophes of natural origin or initiated by human activities with high disruptive potential. "Portugal, located in western Iberia, has recently experienced several large fire events, including megafires, due to a combination of factors such as orography, vegetation, climate, and socio-demographic conditions that contribute to fuel accumulation.". One approach to studying fire danger is to use fire weather indices that are commonly used to quantify meteorological conditions that can lead to fire ignition and spread. This study aims to provide high-resolution (~ 6 km) future projections of the Fire Weather Index (FWI) for Portugal using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, forced by the Max Planck Institute (MPI) model from the CMIP6 suite, under three emission scenarios (SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP58.5) for the present period (1995–2014) and two future periods (2046–2065 and 2081–2100). The results show good agreement between FWI and its subcomponents from the WRF and reanalysis. The modelled FWI reproduced the climatological distribution of fire danger Projections indicate an increase in days with very high to extreme fire danger (FWI > 38) across all scenarios and time frames, with the southern and northeastern regions experiencing the most significant changes. The southern and northeastern parts of the territory experienced the largest changes, indicating significant changes between the scenarios and regions. This study suggests that FWI and its subcomponents should be investigated further. Our results highlight the importance of creating new adaptation measures, especially in the areas most at risk, prepared in advance by different players and authorities, so that the increasing risk of wildfires can be mitigated in the future.
Convection Permitting Regional Climate Modelling Over the Carpathian Region
Abstract
A preliminary analysis of the performance of the latest version of the RegCM regional modelling system, RegCM5, run at a convection permitting resolution (2 km) over the Carpathian Basin is presented for the following years: 1980, 2006, 2008 and 2010. The performance of the model is assessed using various statistics of surface air temperature and precipitation against the CARPATCLIM high-resolution observational dataset and the ERA5 reanalysis, which also provides the driving field for the simulations. While the model performs generally well, it exhibits a warm bias over the Hungarian lowlands during the warm season and a wet (dry) bias over the mountain chains (flat regions) within the basin. The model also shows a strong orographic forcing of precipitation. In general, RegCM5 has a systematic positive precipitation bias over mountainous regions, which can also be attributed to the relatively low station density of the observation network. The high-resolution model adds value especially for simulating medium to high-intensity precipitation events. Our preliminary experiments provide encouraging indications towards the applicability of RegCM5 to the Carpathian region. Future work will include testing the model with different physics configurations and longer simulations and applying the model to climate change studies over the Carpathian Basin.
Digital Transformations Through the Lens of the Collaborative, Co-Generative and Domesticative
Abstract
We explore digital transformation and socio-technical systems through the perspectives of collaboration, co-generation, and domestication. Building on Morten Levin’s influential work, we discuss how digital technologies are integrated into work environments, emphasising the necessity for democratic, participatory approaches. We discuss how his ideas of collaborative, democratic practice originating in the 1990s hold up to today’s organisational challenges like digital and sustainability transitions. Are the ideas and practices still valid, or do we need to update them? We identify the grand challenges that must be met: Ensuring sustainable digital transitions and developing educated, skilled workers in digitally transformed organisations.