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Andrade-Pacheco, R., Savory, D. J., Midekisa, A., Gething, P. W., Sturrock, H. J. W., & Bennett, A. (2019). Household electricity access in Africa (2000-2013): Closing information gaps with model-based geostatistics. PLoS One, 14(5), e0214635.
Abstract: Household electricity access data in Africa are scarce, particularly at the subnational level. We followed a model-based Geostatistics approach to produce maps of electricity access between 2000 and 2013 at a 5 km resolution. We collated data from 69 nationally representative household surveys conducted in Africa and incorporated nighttime lights imagery as well as land use and land cover data to produce maps of electricity access between 2000 and 2013. The information produced here can be an aid for understanding of how electricity access has changed in the region during this 14 year period. The resolution and the continental scale makes it possible to combine these data with other sources in applications in the socio-economic field, both at a local or regional level.
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Andre, J., & Owens, D. A. (2001). The Twilight Envelope: A User-Centered Approach to Describing Roadway Illumination at Night. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 43(4), 620–630.
Abstract: Visual recognition functions, such as acuity and contrast sensitivity, deteriorate rapidly over the declining luminances found during civil twilight. Thus civil twilight, a critical part of the transition between daylight and darkness, represents lighting conditions that may be useful to describe artificial illumination. Automotive headlamps project a three-dimensional beam that ranges from illumination levels comparable to daylight at the vehicle to the dark limit of civil twilight (3.3 1x) at some distance ahead. This twilight envelope is characterized as a distance beyond which foveal visual functions are severely impaired, and thus it provides a general, functional description of the useful extent of the headlamp beam. This user-centered approach to describing illumination is useful for characterizing visibility when driving at night or in other artificially lit environments. This paper discusses the twilight envelope approach and its application to intervehicle variations in headlamp systems. Actual or potential applications of this research include user-centered description of artificial illumination and driver/pedestrian safety education.
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Andreatta, G., & Tessmar-Raible, K. (2020). The still dark side of the moon: molecular mechanisms of lunar-controlled rhythms and clocks. J Mol Biol, in press.
Abstract: Starting with the beginning of the last century, a multitude of scientific studies has documented that the lunar cycle times behaviors and physiology in many organisms. It is plausible that even the first life forms adapted to the different rhythms controlled by the moon. Consistently, many marine species exhibit lunar rhythms, and also the number of documented “lunar-rhythmic” terrestrial species is increasing. Organisms follow diverse lunar geophysical/astronomical rhythms, which differ significantly in terms of period length: from hours (circalunidian and circatidal rhythms) to days (circasemilunar and circalunar cycles). Evidence for internal circatital and circalunar oscillators exists for a range of species based on past behavioral studies, but those species with well-documented behaviorally free-running lunar rhythms are not typically used for molecular studies. Thus, the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely obscure: the dark side of the moon. Here we review findings which start to connect molecular pathways with moon-controlled physiology and behaviors. The present data indicate connections between metabolic/endocrine pathways and moon-controlled rhythms, as well as interactions between circadian and circatidal/circalunar rhythms. Moreover, recent high-throughput analyses provide useful leads towards pathways, as well as molecular markers. However, for each interpretation it is important to carefully consider the – partly substantially differing – conditions used in each experimental paradigm. In the future, it will be important to use lab experiments to delineate the specific mechanisms of the different solar- and lunar-controlled rhythms, but to also start integrating them together, as life has evolved equally long under rhythms of both sun and moon.
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Andreić,, Å. ½., Andreić,, D., Pavlić, &, K. (2012). Near infrared light pollution measurements in Croatian sites. Geofizika, 29(2), 143–156.
Abstract: We investigate the light pollution (lP) in the near-infrared (NIR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum (700–1000 nm) for sites at low altitude, as typical for small observatories in this region. Our measurements show that considerable light pollution exists in the NIR. The increase of night sky brightness towards the horizon is often slightly slower in the NIR than in the visible. In cases when lP is mostly produced by high-pressure sodium lamps, the NIR part of light pollution is dominated by two close sodium spectral lines (818.3 and 819.5 nm) that can easily be filtered out with a dedicated filter. This can, however, change as sodium lamps are gradually replaced by metal-halide lamps whose spectra are complex, showing many lines over the whole visible/infrared range. If in the future a change to lED light sources happens, lP in the NIR could be reduced drastically. last, but not least, the low altitude of observing sites, together with climate characteristics of the region, result in a lot more humidity and aerosols in the atmosphere, compared to a typical mountaintop observatory site. This, combined with proximity of the polluting sources to the observing sites, results in enhancing the lP, compared to the clear, dry atmospheric conditions of a mountaintop observatory.
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Anisimov, V. N. (2006). Light pollution, reproductive function and cancer risk. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 27(1-2), 35–52.
Abstract: At present, light pollution (exposure to light-at-night) both in the form of occupational exposure during night work and as a personal choice and life style, is experienced by numerous night-active members of our society. Disruption of the circadian rhythms induced by light pollution has been associated with cancer in humans. There are epidemiological evidences of increased breast and colon cancer risk in shift workers. An inhibition of the pineal gland function with exposure to the constant light (LL) regimen promoted carcinogenesis whereas the light deprivation inhibits the carcinogenesis. Treatment with pineal indole hormone melatonin inhibits carcinogenesis in pinealectomized rats or animals kept at the standard light/dark regimen (LD) or at the LL regimen. These observations might lead to use melatonin for cancer prevention in groups of humans at risk of light pollution.
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