Preciado, O., & Manzano, E. (2017). Spectral characteristics of road surfaces and eye transmittance: Effects on energy efficiency of road lighting at mesopic levels. Lighting Research & Technology, , 147715351771822.
Abstract: In 2010, the CIE published a recommended system for mesopic photometry based on visual performance. According to this system, scenes illuminated at mesopic levels with light sources of high S/P ratio, will produce better visual performance than those illuminated with light sources of a lower S/P ratio at equal photopic luminance. However, there could be other factors affected by SPD that, when quantified, could lead to a contradictory final effect. The scope of this paper was to evaluate how road lighting is affected by the spectral road surface reflectance and by the human eye transmittance as people get older. Our results suggest that the benefits of considering the mesopic vision effect for light sources with high S/P ratios are totally counteracted by the other two effects at mesopic luminances between 0.75 cd/m2 and 1.73 cd/m2 for people between 20 and 60 years of age, depending on the light source and the age of observers.
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de Jong, M., Caro, S. P., Gienapp, P., Spoelstra, K., & Visser, M. E. (2017). Early Birds by Light at Night: Effects of Light Color and Intensity on Daily Activity Patterns in Blue Tits. J Biol Rhythms, 32(4), 323–333.
Abstract: Artificial light at night disturbs the daily rhythms of many organisms. To what extent this disturbance depends on the intensity and spectral composition of light remain obscure. Here, we measured daily activity patterns of captive blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus) exposed to similar intensities of green, red, or white light at night. Birds advanced their onset of activity in the morning under all light colors but more under red and white light than under green light. Offset of activity was slightly delayed in all light colors. The total activity over a 24-h period did not change but birds moved a part of their daily activity into the night. Since the effect of red and white lights are comparable, we tested the influence of light intensity in a follow-up experiment, where we compared the activity of the birds under different intensities of green and white light only. While in the higher range of intensities, the effects of white and green light were comparable; at lower intensities, green light had a less disturbing effect as compared with white light on daily rhythms in blue tits. Our results show that the extent of this disturbance can be mitigated by modulating the spectral characteristics and intensity of outdoor lighting, which is now feasible through the use of LED lighting.
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Do, Q. - T., Shapiro, J. N., Elvidge, C. D., Abdel-Jelil, M., Ahn, D. P., Baugh, K., et al. (2018). Terrorism, geopolitics, and oil security: Using remote sensing to estimate oil production of the Islamic State. Energy Research & Social Science, 44, 411–418.
Abstract: As the world’s most traded commodity, oil production is typically well monitored and analyzed. It also has established links to geopolitics, international relations, and security. Despite this attention, the illicit production, refining, and trade of oil and derivative products occur all over the world and provide significant revenues outside of the oversight and regulation of governments. A prominent manifestation of this phenomenon is how terrorist and insurgent organizations—including the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL/ISIS or Daesh—use oil as a revenue source. Understanding the spatial and temporal variation in production can help determine the scale of operations, technical capacity, and revenue streams. This information, in turn, can inform both security and reconstruction strategies. To this end, we use satellite multi-spectral imaging and ground-truth pre-war output data to effectively construct a real-time census of oil production in areas controlled by the ISIL terrorist group. More broadly, remotely measuring the activity of extractive industries in conflict-affected areas without reliable administrative data can support a broad range of public policy and decisions and military operations.
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Grenis, K., & Murphy, S. M. (2018). Direct and indirect effects of light pollution on the performance of an herbivorous insect. Insect Sci, 26(4), 770–776.
Abstract: Light pollution is a global disturbance with resounding impacts on a wide variety of organisms, but our understanding of these impacts is restricted to relatively few higher vertebrate species. We tested the direct effects of light pollution on herbivore performance as well as indirect effects mediated by host plant quality. We found that artificial light from streetlights alters plant toughness. Additionally, we found evidence of both direct and indirect effects of light pollution on the performance of an herbivorous insect, which indicates that streetlights can have cascading impacts on multiple trophic levels. Our novel findings suggest that light pollution can alter plant-insect interactions and thus may have important community-wide consequences.
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Gwiazdsinski, L., & Straw, W. (2018). Nights and Mountains. Preliminary Explorations of a Double Frontier. rga, 106(1).
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