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Abstract Urban renewal has become a key issue all through China's Transitional Period. The social, economic, political factors, and their correlations have been seriously considered. However, the effects of outdoor pedestrian thermal comfort and fluid ventilation effects as well as the residence living conditions in old city districts under urban reconstruction should, to some extent, be paid closer attention to. As an example, take an old city district in Wuhan where a comprehensive mathematical model describing the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics has been presented. Considering the influences of ambient crosswind, solar radiation, and natural convection and radiation heat transfer, numerical analysis based on the original layout has been executed. By analyzing the temperature and velocity distributions of the old city district, a new planned layout has been presented in this research. By comparison, some basic rules have been advanced to achieve favorable thermal comfort and flow ventilation effects.

China's economic boom in the last three decades has spurred increasing demand for transportation services and personal mobility. Consequently, vehicle population has grown rapidly since the early 1990s, especially in megacities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Tianjin. As a result, mobile sources have become more conspicuous contributors to urban air pollution in Chinese cities. Tianjin was our first focus city, and the study there took us about two years to complete. Building upon the experience and partnership generated through the Tianjin study, the research team carried out the Beijing study from fall 2007–fall 2008. Beijing was chosen to be our second focus city for several reasons: it has the largest local fleet and the highest percentage of the population owning vehicles among all Chinese cities, and it has suffered from severe air pollution, partially due to the ever-growing population of on-road vehicles.

Abstract The issues of fossil-fired energy shortage and global warming have aroused worldwide attention, and the renewable and sustainable energy sources, therefore, are playing an increasingly important role in future energy consumptions. Energy consumptions in buildings account for almost 40% of the primary energy use in the US. A novel research-based Z er o E nergy (ZOE) Lab as a validation testbed combining various kinds of renewable energies has been presented in this paper. The concept, unique features, and the operation performance by experiments have also been shown in detail. The results of the novel ZOE Lab can open up a good angle for the future development of zero energy buildings. After analyzing the operating data of the ZOE Lab, the energy consumption, energy generation, and energy allocation of the devices have been presented. A new HVAC system with higher performance is recommended to be used in the ZOE Lab to achieve an even lower energy consumption than the current use, as a necessary refinement.

The Lancet Countdown : le suivi des progrès en matière de santé et de changement climatique est une collaboration de recherche internationale et multidisciplinaire entre des établissements universitaires et des praticiens du monde entier. Il fait suite aux travaux de la Commission Lancet de 2015, qui a conclu que la réponse au changement climatique pourrait être « la plus grande opportunité de santé mondiale du XXIe siècle ». Le compte à rebours du Lancet vise à suivre les impacts sur la santé des risques climatiques ; la résilience et l'adaptation en matière de santé ; les co-bénéfices pour la santé de l'atténuation du changement climatique ; l'économie et la finance ; et l'engagement politique et plus large. Ces domaines d'intervention forment les cinq groupes de travail thématiques du Lancet Countdown et représentent différents aspects de l'association complexe entre la santé et le changement climatique. Ces groupes thématiques fourniront des indicateurs pour une vue d'ensemble mondiale de la santé et du changement climatique ; des études de cas nationales mettant en évidence les pays qui ouvrent la voie ou vont à l'encontre de la tendance ; et un engagement avec un éventail de parties prenantes. Le compte à rebours du Lancet vise finalement à rendre compte chaque année d'une série d'indicateurs dans ces cinq groupes de travail. Ce document décrit les indicateurs potentiels et les domaines d'indicateurs à suivre par la collaboration, avec des suggestions sur les méthodologies et les ensembles de données disponibles pour atteindre cet objectif. Les domaines d'indicateurs proposés doivent être affinés et marquent le début d'un processus de consultation en cours - de novembre 2016 au début de 2017 - pour développer ces domaines, identifier les domaines clés non couverts actuellement et modifier les indicateurs si nécessaire. Cette collaboration cherchera activement à s'engager dans les processus de suivi existants, tels que les objectifs de développement durable des Nations Unies et les profils de pays de l'OMS en matière de climat et de santé. Les indicateurs évolueront également au fil du temps grâce à une collaboration continue avec des experts et un éventail de parties prenantes, et dépendront de l'émergence de nouvelles preuves et connaissances. Au cours de ses travaux, le Lancet Countdown adoptera un processus collaboratif et itératif, qui vise à compléter les initiatives existantes, à accueillir l'engagement avec de nouveaux partenaires et à être ouvert au développement de nouveaux projets de recherche sur la santé et le changement climatique. The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change es una colaboración de investigación internacional y multidisciplinaria entre instituciones académicas y profesionales de todo el mundo. Sigue el trabajo de la Comisión Lancet de 2015, que concluyó que la respuesta al cambio climático podría ser "la mayor oportunidad de salud global del siglo XXI". The Lancet Countdown tiene como objetivo realizar un seguimiento de los impactos en la salud de los peligros climáticos; la resiliencia y la adaptación a la salud; los beneficios colaterales para la salud de la mitigación del cambio climático; la economía y las finanzas; y el compromiso político y más amplio. Estas áreas de enfoque forman los cinco grupos de trabajo temáticos de The Lancet Countdown y representan diferentes aspectos de la compleja asociación entre la salud y el cambio climático. Estos grupos temáticos proporcionarán indicadores para una visión global de la salud y el cambio climático; estudios de casos nacionales que destacan a los países que lideran el camino o van en contra de la tendencia; y el compromiso con una variedad de partes interesadas. En última instancia, The Lancet Countdown tiene como objetivo informar anualmente sobre una serie de indicadores en estos cinco grupos de trabajo. Este documento describe los posibles indicadores y dominios de indicadores a ser rastreados por la colaboración, con sugerencias sobre las metodologías y conjuntos de datos disponibles para lograr este fin. Los dominios de indicadores propuestos requieren un mayor refinamiento y marcan el comienzo de un proceso de consulta continuo, desde noviembre de 2016 hasta principios de 2017, para desarrollar estos dominios, identificar áreas clave que actualmente no están cubiertas y cambiar los indicadores cuando sea necesario. Esta colaboración buscará activamente involucrarse con los procesos de monitoreo existentes, como los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la ONU y LOS perfiles climáticos y de salud de los países de la OMS. Los indicadores también evolucionarán con el tiempo a través de la colaboración continua con expertos y una variedad de partes interesadas, y dependerán de la aparición de nuevas pruebas y conocimientos. Durante el transcurso de su trabajo, The Lancet Countdown adoptará un proceso colaborativo e iterativo, que tiene como objetivo complementar las iniciativas existentes, dar la bienvenida al compromiso con nuevos socios y estar abierto al desarrollo de nuevos proyectos de investigación sobre salud y cambio climático. The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change is an international, multidisciplinary research collaboration between academic institutions and practitioners across the world. It follows on from the work of the 2015 Lancet Commission, which concluded that the response to climate change could be "the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century". The Lancet Countdown aims to track the health impacts of climate hazards; health resilience and adaptation; health co-benefits of climate change mitigation; economics and finance; and political and broader engagement. These focus areas form the five thematic working groups of the Lancet Countdown and represent different aspects of the complex association between health and climate change. These thematic groups will provide indicators for a global overview of health and climate change; national case studies highlighting countries leading the way or going against the trend; and engagement with a range of stakeholders. The Lancet Countdown ultimately aims to report annually on a series of indicators across these five working groups. This paper outlines the potential indicators and indicator domains to be tracked by the collaboration, with suggestions on the methodologies and datasets available to achieve this end. The proposed indicator domains require further refinement, and mark the beginning of an ongoing consultation process-from November, 2016 to early 2017-to develop these domains, identify key areas not currently covered, and change indicators where necessary. This collaboration will actively seek to engage with existing monitoring processes, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and WHO's climate and health country profiles. The indicators will also evolve over time through ongoing collaboration with experts and a range of stakeholders, and be dependent on the emergence of new evidence and knowledge. During the course of its work, the Lancet Countdown will adopt a collaborative and iterative process, which aims to complement existing initiatives, welcome engagement with new partners, and be open to developing new research projects on health and climate change. العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت: تتبع التقدم المحرز في مجال الصحة وتغير المناخ هو تعاون بحثي دولي متعدد التخصصات بين المؤسسات الأكاديمية والممارسين في جميع أنحاء العالم. ويتبع ذلك عمل لجنة لانسيت لعام 2015، التي خلصت إلى أن الاستجابة لتغير المناخ يمكن أن تكون "أعظم فرصة صحية عالمية في القرن الحادي والعشرين". يهدف العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت إلى تتبع الآثار الصحية للمخاطر المناخية ؛ والمرونة الصحية والتكيف ؛ والفوائد الصحية المشتركة للتخفيف من آثار تغير المناخ ؛ والاقتصاد والتمويل ؛ والمشاركة السياسية والأوسع نطاقًا. تشكل مجالات التركيز هذه مجموعات العمل المواضيعية الخمسة للعد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت وتمثل جوانب مختلفة من الارتباط المعقد بين الصحة وتغير المناخ. وستوفر هذه المجموعات المواضيعية مؤشرات لإلقاء نظرة عامة عالمية على الصحة وتغير المناخ ؛ ودراسات حالة وطنية تسلط الضوء على البلدان التي تقود الطريق أو تسير عكس الاتجاه ؛ والمشاركة مع مجموعة من أصحاب المصلحة. يهدف العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت في نهاية المطاف إلى تقديم تقرير سنوي عن سلسلة من المؤشرات عبر مجموعات العمل الخمس هذه. تحدد هذه الورقة المؤشرات المحتملة ومجالات المؤشرات التي سيتم تتبعها من خلال التعاون، مع اقتراحات حول المنهجيات ومجموعات البيانات المتاحة لتحقيق هذه الغاية. تتطلب مجالات المؤشرات المقترحة مزيدًا من التنقيح، وتمثل بداية عملية تشاور مستمرة - من نوفمبر 2016 إلى أوائل 2017 - لتطوير هذه المجالات، وتحديد المجالات الرئيسية غير المشمولة حاليًا، وتغيير المؤشرات عند الضرورة. سيسعى هذا التعاون بنشاط إلى المشاركة في عمليات الرصد القائمة، مثل أهداف الأمم المتحدة للتنمية المستدامة والملامح القطرية للمناخ والصحة لمنظمة الصحة العالمية. ستتطور المؤشرات أيضًا بمرور الوقت من خلال التعاون المستمر مع الخبراء ومجموعة من أصحاب المصلحة، وستعتمد على ظهور أدلة ومعارف جديدة. خلال عملها، سيعتمد العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت عملية تعاونية وتكرارية، تهدف إلى استكمال المبادرات الحالية، والترحيب بالمشاركة مع شركاء جدد، والانفتاح على تطوير مشاريع بحثية جديدة حول الصحة وتغير المناخ.

Quantification of the trade-offs among greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yield, and farmers’ incomes is essential for proposing economic and environmental nitrogen (N) management strategies for optimizing agricultural production. A four-year (2017–2020) field experiment (including four treatments: basic N fertilizer treatment (BF), suitable utilization of fertilization (SU), emission reduction treatment (ER), and high fertilization (HF)) was conducted on maize (Zea mays L.) in the North China Plain. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was used in this study to quantify the GHG emissions and farmers’ incomes during the whole maize production process. The total GHG emissions of BF, SU, ER, and HF treatments in the process of maize production are 10,755.2, 12,908.7, 11,950.1, and 14,274.5 kg CO2-eq ha−1, respectively, of which the direct emissions account for 84.8%, 76.8%, 74.9%, and 71.0%, respectively. Adding inhibitors significantly reduced direct GHG emissions, and the N2O and CO2 emissions from the maize fields in the ER treatment decreased by 30.0% and 7.9% compared to those in the SU treatment. Insignificant differences in yield were found between the SU and ER treatments, indicating that adding fertilizer inhibitors did not affect farmers’ incomes while reducing GHG emissions. The yield for SU, ER, and HF treatments all significantly increased by 12.9–24.0%, 10.0–20.7%, and 2.1–17.4% compared to BF, respectively. In comparison with BF, both SU and ER significantly promoted agricultural net profit (ANP) by 16.6% and 12.2%, with mean ANP values of 3101.0 USD ha−1 and 2980.0 USD ha−1, respectively. Due to the high agricultural inputs, the ANP values in the HF treatment were 11.2%, 16.6%, and 12.4% lower than those in the SU treatment in 2018–2020. In conclusion, the combination of N fertilizer and inhibitors proved to be an environmentally friendly, high-profit, and low-emissions production technology while sustaining or even increasing maize yields in the North China Plain, which was conducive to achieving agricultural sustainability.

This Methodology Booklet provides a comprehensive review and methodology guiding principles for constructing energy efficiency indicators, with illustrative examples of application to individual countries. It reviews work done by international agencies and national government in constructing meaningful energy efficiency indicators that help policy makers to assess changes in energy efficiency over time. Building on past OECD experience and best practices, and the knowledge of these countries' institutions, relevant sources of information to construct an energy indicator database are identified. A framework based on levels of hierarchy of indicators -- spanning from aggregate, macro level to disaggregated end-use level metrics -- is presented to help shape the understanding of assessing energy efficiency. In each sector of activity: industry, commercial, residential, agriculture and transport, indicators are presented and recommendations to distinguish the different factors affecting energy use are highlighted. The methodology booklet addresses specifically issues that are relevant to developing indicators where activity is a major factor driving energy demand. A companion spreadsheet tool is available upon request.

Abstract. We use a Lagrangian dispersion model driven by a mesoscale model with four-dimensional data assimilation to simulate the dispersion of elemental carbon (EC) over a region encompassing Mexico City and its surroundings, the study domain for the 2006 MAX-MEX experiment, which was a component of the MILAGRO campaign. The results are used to identify periods when biomass burning was likely to have had a significant impact on the concentrations of elemental carbon at two sites, T1 and T2, downwind of the city, and when emissions from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) were likely to have been more important. They are also used to estimate the median ages of EC affecting the specific absorption of light, αABS, at 870 nm as well as to identify periods when the urban plume from the MCMA was likely to have been advected over T1 and T2. Median EC ages at T1 and T2 are substantially larger during the day than at night. Values of αABS at T1, the nearer of the two sites to Mexico City, were smaller at night and increased rapidly after mid-morning, peaking in the mid-afternoon. The behavior is attributed to the coating of aerosols with substances such as sulfate or organic carbon during daylight hours, but such coating appears to be limited or absent at night. Evidence for this is provided by scanning electron microscopy images of aerosols collected at the sampling sites. During daylight hours the values of αABS did not increase with aerosol age for median ages in the range of 1–4 h. There is some evidence for absorption increasing as aerosols were advected from T1 to T2 but the statistical significance of that result is not strong.