An idea for a new modeling approach of climatic changes. A correlation study for Cyprus

Mathematical Modeling in climatic changes prediction has been based on more or less simple energy balances considering the Earth along with its atmosphere, with the so-called solar "constant" taken as an invariant. However evidence has been supplied in previous WSEAS Conferences that this constant, S, does not remain a constant but it does fluctuate, following the cycles of the solar activity. Furthermore the transmission parameters concerning the input and the output energy, τ V and τ IR from/to the system Earth-Atmosphere also vary and this reflects the human activity leading to increased greenhouse gas quantities, being blamed for a dramatic climatic change the last decades. Thus, considering those fluctuating properties, the following equation for Earth's mean temperature, T, has been developed (A being albedo equal to 0.3 and σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant) (Equation presented) with the following multivariate treatment: (Equation presented) We need to obtain the derivatives: (Equation presented) because all S, τ IR, τ V chang

Combining visible near-infrared spectroscopy and water vapor sorption for soil specific surface area estimation

Abstract The soil specific surface area (SSA) is a fundamental property governing a range of soil processes relevant to engineering, environmental, and agricultural applications. A method for SSA determination based on a combination of visible near‐infrared spectroscopy (vis‐NIRS) and vapor sorption isotherm measurements was proposed. Two models for water vapor sorption isotherms (WSIs) were used: the Tuller–Or (TO) and the Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer (GAB) model. They were parameterized with sorption isotherm measurements and applied for SSA estimation for a wide range of soils (N = 270) from 27 countries. The generated vis‐NIRS models were compared with models where the SSA was determined with the ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) method. Different regression techniques were tested and included partial least squares (PLS), support vector machines (SVM), and artificial neural networks (ANN). The effect of dataset subdivision based on EGME values on model performance was also tested. Successful calibration models for SSATO and SSAGAB were generated and were nearly identical to that of SSAEGME. The performance of models was dependent on the range and variation in SSA values. However, the comparison using selected validation samples indicated no significant differences in the estimated SSATO, SSAGAB, and SSAEGME, with an average standardized RMSE (SRMSE = RMSE/range) of 0.07, 0.06 and 0.07, respectively. Small differences among the regression techniques were found, yet SVM performed best. The results of this study indicate that the combination of vis‐NIRS with the WSI as a reference technique for vis‐NIRS models provides SSA estimations akin to the EGME method

Historical approaches for hospitality and tourism research

Purpose: This paper aims to show how historical approaches can better inform understanding of hospitality and tourism research. Recent work in business and management has posited the value of historical research and narrative frameworks to explicate business phenomena – here the authors propose an approach to hospitality and tourism studies could be similarly beneficial. Design/methodology/approach: Three principal historical approaches are proposed: systematic study of historical archives, oral histories and biography and prosopography. The paper further proposes that such work should be aligned to Andrews and Burke’s framework of the 5Cs: context, change over time, causality, complexity and contingency to help situate research appropriately and effectively. Findings: This paper suggests that historical methods can prove particularly useful in hospitality and tourism research by testing, extending and creating theory that is empirically informed and socially situated. The analysis put forward shows that undertaking historical work set against the framework of the 5Cs of historical research offers the potential for wider and deeper understandings of hospitality and tourism research by revealing temporal and historical dynamics in the field that may hitherto be unseen or insufficiently explored. Originality/value: Much of the existing work on the benefits of historical approaches in business and management has focussed on the why or the what. This paper focuses on the how, articulating how historical approaches offer significant potential to aid the understanding of hospitality and tourism research