Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Artificial Light At Night On The Distribution Of Sea Turtles In The Mediterranean, Molly R. Blyth

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Artificial light at night (ALAN) poses a significant threat to a wide array of species across the world. In coastal areas, artificial lighting is known to disrupt sea-finding behaviour of sea turtle hatchlings and to deter females from nesting beaches. Yet, sea turtles spend the majority of their lifetimes in the sea, where the influence of ALAN on sea turtle distribution has not previously been studied. Using a recently published atlas of ALAN under the sea, this study analysed an online dataset of sea turtle sightings throughout the Mediterranean Sea, to look for a relationship using a binomial generalised linear …

A Dynamic Urban Digital Twin Integrating Longitudinal Thermal Imagery For Microclimate Studies, Vasantha Ramani, Marcel Ignatius, Joie Lim, Filip Biljecki, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Recently, the concept of a digital twin for the built environment has received significant attention due to its potential benefits to urban planners, engineers, and designers. The development of tools that aid in integrating real-world physical systems with digital capabilities is essential for advancing digital twin technology. In this work, we present one such digital twin tool that integrates the longitudinal thermal envelope data of buildings on the campus of the National University of Singapore with a virtual 3D model. Thermal images of the buildings were captured using a neighborhood-scale infrared observatory for a few months. The temperature profile of …

Artificial Light At Night On Nesting Beaches Of The Green Turtle, Chelonia Mydas, In The Eastern Mediterranean And Its Possible Effect On Populations, Noam Leader, Yaniv Levy, Oğuz Türkozan

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Artificial light associated with coastal development is becoming one of the major threats to coastal biodiversity. Sea turtles are coastal breeders, and it is well-known that hatchlings tend to move toward lighter objects on the beach, which prevents them from reaching the sea. It is, therefore, essential to identify the impact of artificial light at night (ALAN) on the nesting beaches. Here, we investigated ALAN levels using imagery from satellites at important green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting beaches in the Mediterranean. Mean August radiance levels at nesting beaches ranged from 0.00473 nW/cm2sr (Northern Cyprus-South Karpaz Beach) to 14.44 nW/cm2sr (Turkey …

Urban School Neighbourhoods Dominated By Unhealthy Food Retailers And Advertisements In Greater Tunis: A Geospatial Study In The Midst Of The Nutrition Transition, Christelle Akl, Nehmat El-Helou, Gloria Safadi, Aline Semaan, Aya El Sammak, Tarek Trabelsi, Sonia Sassi, Chaza Akik, Jalila El Ati, Pierre Traissac, Hala Ghattas Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Objective:

Food environments are a major determinant of children’s nutritional status. Scarce evidence on food environments exists in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This study aims to fill this gap by documenting the obesogenicity of food environments around schools in Greater Tunis, Tunisia – an LMIC of the Middle East and North Africa region with an ongoing nutrition transition and increasing rates of childhood obesity.

Design:

In this cross-sectional study, we assessed built food environments around fifty primary schools. Ground-truthing was performed to collect geographic coordinates and pictures of food retailers and food advertisement sets within an 800-m road network …