Rapid urbanization in African metropolises like the Greater Asmara Area, Eritrea, poses numerous environmental challenges, including soil sealing, loss of vegetation cover, threats to protected natural areas, and climate change, among others. Mapping and assessing ecosystem services, particularly analyzing their spatial and temporal distribution is crucial for sustainable spatial planning. This study aims at mapping and analyzing ecosystem services hotspots and coldspots dynamics in the Greater Asmara Area to identify recent trends and opportunities for enhancing ecosystem services supply.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGold nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit unique properties that make them appealing for applications in biosensing and other emerging fields. Despite the availability of numerous synthesis methods, important questions remain to be addressed regarding the volume effect on the synthesis yield and quality of AuNPs in the light of biosensing research. The present study addresses these issues by developing a novel microvolumetric citrate-reduction method to improve the synthesis of AuNPs, which were characterized by electronic microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, zeta potential and colorimetric analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater availability for agricultural use is currently a global problem that worsens with climate change in several regions of the world. Among grain legumes, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is the most cultivated in the worldwide. The Chilean germplasm of common bean is characterized by tolerance to water stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current climate change trend urges the application of efficient spatial planning to mitigate the effects of urbanization on local urban warming. Nevertheless, how urban temperatures respond to urban form changes inside cities is still insufficiently understood. In this paper, we explored the relationship between urban form and diurnal space-time land surface temperature (LST) trends (2003-2019) in Beijing (continental climate), Cairo (arid) and Santiago (temperate).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurface urban heat islands (SUHIs) are present in all cities, derived from their thermal properties. While looking at the spatiotemporal variability of land surface temperature (LST), there is still a gap in understanding patterns of change. In this paper, we analysed diurnal and nocturnal annual mean LST trends in continental (Beijing), temperate (Mexico City and Santiago), and arid (Cairo, Hyderabad, and Riyadh) cities employing 1 km MODIS data (2003-2019).
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