Assessment of the desertification vulnerability of the Cappadocian district (Central Anatolia, Turkey) based on aridity and climate-process system

The present study discusses climate of the Cappadocian district in Turkey on the basis of Thornthwaite’s climate classification and water budget, Erinç’s aridity index and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) aridity index, along with the spatial and inter-seasonal variations of precipitation and air temperatures. Vulnerability of the Cappadocia to desertification processes was also investigated with respect to the aridity, lithology dominated by tuffs and climate-process system and present land-use features of the district. The data analysis revealed that coefficients of variation (CV) of the mean and maximum temperatures are the greatest in summer and the smallest in winter. Nevşehir and Kayseri environs are the most continental parts of the Cappadocia with a high inter-annual variability and low temperatures. Cappadocia is characterized with a continental rainfall regime having a maximum precipitation in spring. Variability of summer precipitation totals is greater than that of other seasons, varying from 65.7% to 78%. The CVs of the annual precipitation totals are about 18% at north and about 20% at south. Semi-arid and dry sub-humid or semi-humid climate types prevail over Cappadocia according to Thornthwaite’s moisture and Erinç’s aridity indices. Steppe is the dominant vegetation formation with sparse dry forests. The Cappadocia is vulnerable to the desertification processes due to both natural factors (e.g. degree of aridity, climate-process system, weathering of tuffs, erosion, climate change, etc.) and human-involvement (e.g. land degradation and intensive tourism, etc.). In order to mitigate desertification and to preserve the historical and cultural heritages in Cappadocia, sustainable land-use management and tourism planning applications are urgently needed

Linking formal child care characteristics to children's socioemotional well-being: A comparative perspective

Most research on formal child care and children’s outcomes has focused on single countries. We, however, contend that policy context may moderate the association between formal child care characteristics and children’s socioemotional well-being. We examined this by comparing the Netherlands, Finland and the UK; three countries that differ regarding family policies. Of these three countries, Finland was recently ranked highest (ranked 1st) with regards to quality of child care in a recent analysis by the Economist ,followed by the UK (ranked 3rd) and then the Netherlands (ranked 7th) .We hypothesized that children who attend child - care settings in countries with higher- uality formal child- are provision would generally show better socioemotional outcomes. Data from the comparative ‘F amilies 24/7’ survey were used, including 990 parents with children aged 0–12. We distinguished between two age groups in our analysis. Results indicated that, compared to the UK, longer hours in formal care were less beneficial in the Netherlands. Furthermore, spen ding time in formal care during nonstandard hours was more harmful for children in Finland compared to the UK. Lastly, receiving care from multiple caregivers was more disruptive for British children than for Dutch children. No differences were found between Finland and the Netherlands