Search results for: environmental sustainability

Authors: Gulce Kanturer Yasar, Hayriye Esbah Tuncay

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Cultivated food production systems have coexisted harmoniously with nature for thousands of years through ancient techniques. Based on this experience, experimentation, and discovery, these culturally embedded methods have evolved to sustain food production, restore ecosystems, and harmoniously adapt to nature. In this era, as we seek solutions to food security challenges, enhancing and repairing our food production systems is crucial, making them more resilient to future disasters without harming the ecosystem. Instead of unsustainable conventional systems with ongoing destructive effects, we must investigate innovative and restorative production systems that integrate ancient wisdom and technology. Whether we consider agricultural fields, pastures, forests, coastal wetland ecosystems, or lagoons, it is crucial to harness the potential of these natural resources in addressing future global challenges, fostering both socio-economic resilience and ecological sustainability through strategic organization for food production. When thoughtfully designed and managed, marine-based food production has the potential to function as a living infrastructure system that addresses social and environmental challenges despite its known adverse impacts on the environment and local economies. These areas are also stages of daily life, vibrant hubs where local culture is produced and shared, contributing to the distinctive rural character of coastal settlements and exhibiting numerous spatial expressions of public nature. When we consider the history of humanity, indigenous communities have engaged in these sustainable production practices that provide goods for food, trade, culture, and the environment for many ages. Ecosystem restoration and socio-economic resilience can be achieved by combining production techniques based on ecological knowledge developed by indigenous societies with modern technologies. Coastal lagoons are highly productive coastal features that provide various natural services and societal values. They are especially vulnerable to severe physical, ecological, and social impacts of changing, challenging global conditions because of their placement within the coastal landscape. Coastal lagoons are crucial in sustaining fisheries productivity, providing storm protection, supporting tourism, and offering other natural services that hold significant value for society. Although there is considerable literature on the physical and ecological dimensions of lagoons, much less literature focuses on their economic and social values. This study will discuss the possibilities of coastal lagoons to achieve both ecologically sustainable and socio-economically resilient while maintaining their productivity by combining local techniques and modern technologies. The case study will present Turkey’s traditional aquaculture method, "Dalyans," predominantly operated by small-scale farmers in coastal lagoons. Due to human, ecological, and economic factors, dalyans are losing their landscape characteristics and efficiency. These 1000-year-old ancient techniques, rooted in centuries of traditional and agroecological knowledge, are under threat of tourism, urbanization, and unsustainable agricultural practices. Thus, Dalyans have diminished from 29 to approximately 4-5 active Dalyans. To deal with the adverse socio-economic and ecological consequences on Turkey's coastal areas, conserving Dalyans by protecting their indigenous practices while incorporating contemporary methods is essential. This study seeks to generate scenarios that envision the potential ways protection and development can manifest within case study areas.

Keywords: coastal foodscape, lagoon aquaculture, regenerative food systems, watershed food networks

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Authors: Broto Seno

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This study aims to describe and examine more in the implementation of educational partnerships for undergraduate students at Yogyakarta State University (YSU), which is more focused on educational partnerships abroad. This study used descriptive qualitative approach. The study subjects consisted of a vice-rector, two staff education partnerships, four vice-dean, nine undergraduate students and three foreign students. Techniques of data collection using interviews and document review. Validity test of the data source using triangulation. Data analysis using flow models Miles and Huberman, namely data reduction, data display, and conclusion. Results of this study showed that the implementation of educational partnerships abroad for undergraduate students at YSU meets six of the nine indicators of the success of strategic partnerships. Six indicators are long-term, strategic, mutual trust, sustainable competitive advantages, mutual benefit for all the partners, and the separate and positive impact. The indicator has not been achieved is cooperative development, successful, and world class / best practice. These results were obtained based on the discussion of the four formulation of the problem, namely: 1) Implementation and development of educational partnerships abroad has been running good enough, but not maximized. 2) Benefits of the implementation of educational partnerships abroad is providing learning experiences for students, institutions of experience in comparison to each faculty, and improving the network of educational partnerships for YSU toward World Class University. 3) The sustainability of educational partnerships abroad is pursuing a strategy of development through improved management of the partnership. 4) Supporting factors of educational partnerships abroad is the support of YSU, YSU’s partner and society. Inhibiting factors of educational partnerships abroad is not running optimally management.

Keywords: partnership, education, YSU, institutions and faculties

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar Sinha

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The oil and gas industry is a critical component of the global economy, relying heavily on industrial control systems (ICS) to manage and monitor operations. However, these systems are increasingly becoming targets for cyber-attacks, posing significant risks to operational continuity, safety, and environmental integrity. This paper explores comprehensive cybersecurity strategies for protecting oil and gas industrial control systems. It delves into the unique vulnerabilities of ICS in this sector, including outdated legacy systems, integration with IT networks, and the increased connectivity brought by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). We propose a multi-layered defense approach that includes the implementation of robust network security protocols, regular system updates and patch management, advanced threat detection and response mechanisms, and stringent access control measures. We illustrate the effectiveness of these strategies in mitigating cyber risks and ensuring the resilient and secure operation of oil and gas industrial control systems. The findings underscore the necessity for a proactive and adaptive cybersecurity framework to safeguard critical infrastructure in the face of evolving cyber threats.

Keywords: cybersecurity, industrial control systems, oil and gas, cyber-attacks, network security, IoT, threat detection, system updates, patch management, access control, cybersecurity awareness, critical infrastructure, resilience, cyber threats, legacy systems, IT integration, multi-layered defense, operational continuity, safety, environmental integrity

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Authors: Farzan Farhangian, Behnam Shakibafar, Bobda Cedric, Rene Jr. Landry

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Among the air navigation technologies, many of them are capable of increasing aviation sustainability as well as accuracy improvement in Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (APNT), especially avionics Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), Very high-frequency Omni-directional Range (VOR), etc. The integration of these air navigation solutions could make a robust and efficient accuracy in air mobility, air traffic management and autonomous operations. Designing a proper RF front-end, power amplifier and software-defined transponder could pave the way for reaching an optimized avionics navigation solution. In this article, the possibility of reaching an optimum front-end to be used with single low-cost Software-Defined Radio (SDR) has been investigated in order to reach a software-defined DME architecture. Our software-defined approach uses the firmware possibilities to design a real-time software architecture compatible with a Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) BladeRF to estimate an accurate time delay between a Transmission (Tx) and the reception (Rx) channels using the synchronous scheduled communication. We could design a novel power amplifier for the transmission channel of the DME to pass the minimum transmission power. This article also investigates designing proper pair pulses based on the DO-178B avionics standard. Various guidelines have been tested, and the possibility of passing the certification process for each standard term has been analyzed. Finally, the performance of the DME was tested in the laboratory environment using an IFR6000, which showed that the proposed architecture reached an accuracy of less than 0.23 Nautical mile (Nmi) with 98% probability.

Keywords: avionics, DME, software defined radio, navigation

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Authors: Salina Budin, Shaira Ismail

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Students learn effectively in a learning environment with a suitable teaching approach that matches their learning preferences. The main objective of the study is to examine the learning preferences amongst the students in the Science and Technology (S&T), and Social Science (SS) fields of study at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Pulau Pinang. The measurement instrument is based on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles which measure five elements of learning styles; environmental, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological. Questionnaires are distributed amongst undergraduates in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Business Management. The respondents comprise of 131 diploma students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and 111 degree students of the Faculty of Business Management. The results indicate that, both S&T and SS students share a similar learning preferences on the environmental aspect, emotional preferences, motivational level, learning responsibility, persistent level in learning and learning structure. Most of the S&T students are concluded as analytical learners and the majority of SS students are global learners. Both S&T and SS students are concluded as visual learners, preferred to be in an active mobility in a relaxing and enjoying mode with some light of refreshments during the learning process and exhibited reflective characteristics in learning. Obviously, the S&T students are considered as left brain dominant, whereas the SS students are right brain dominant. The findings highlighted that both categories of students exhibited similar learning preferences except on psychological preferences.

Keywords: learning preferences, Dunn and Dunn learning style, teaching approach, science and technology, social science

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Authors: Sukhwinder Singh, Julian Park, Dinesh Kumar Benbi

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Although soil health, which is recognized as one of the key determinants of sustainable agricultural development, can be measured by a range of physical, chemical and biological parameters, the widely used parameters include pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC), plant available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Soil health is largely affected by the occurrence of natural events or human activities and can be improved by various land management practices. A database of 120 soil samples collected from farmers’ fields spread across three major agro-climatic zones of Punjab suggested that the average pH, EC, OC, P and K was 8.2 (SD = 0.75, Min = 5.5, Max = 9.1), 0.27 dS/m (SD = 0.17, Min = 0.072 dS/m, Max = 1.22 dS/m), 0.49% (SD = 0.20, Min = 0.06%, Max = 1.2%), 19 mg/kg soil (SD = 22.07, Min = 3 mg/kg soil, Max = 207 mg/kg soil) and 171 mg/kg soil (SD = 47.57, Min = 54 mg/kg soil, Max = 288 mg/kg soil), respectively. Region-wise, pH, EC and K were the highest in south-western district of Ferozpur whereas farmers in north-eastern district of Gurdaspur had the best soils in terms of OC and P. The soils in the central district of Barnala had lower OC, P and K than the respective overall averages while its soils were normal but skewed towards alkalinity. Besides agro-climatic conditions, the size of landholding and farmer education showed a significant association with Soil Fertility Index (SFI), a composite index calculated using the aforementioned parameters’ normalized weightage. All the four stakeholder groups cited the current cropping patterns, burning of rice crop residue, and imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers for change in soil health. However, the current state of soil health in Punjab is unclear, which needs further investigation based on temporal data collected from the same field to see the short and long-term impacts of various crop combinations and varied cropping intensity levels on soil health.

Keywords: soil health, punjab agriculture, sustainability, soil fertility index

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Authors: Garba Inuwa Kuta, Mohammed, Adamu, Mohammed Ahmed Emigilati, Ibrahim Ishiaku, Kudu Dangana

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The study sought to identify the problems of solid waste management in General Mohammed InuwaWushishi Housing Estate. The two broad types of data, the secondary and primary data were used in the study. Questionnaires and personal observations were also used to collect some of the data. Factors impeding the effective and efficient solid waste management were identified. The study revealed that sacks disposal method and open dumping are the most commonly used method of disposal, about 30.0% of the respondent use sacks disposal method in the estate while 24.9% dump their refuse on the floor. Wrong attitudes and perceptions of the people about sanitation issues contributed to solid waste management problems of General Mohammed InuwaWushishi Housing Estate. Majority of the households did not educate their members on the need to clean their surroundings and refuse to buy drum for waste disposal from Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) on the basis that the drums are expensive. Virtually, all the people depended on Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) facilities for the disposal of their household refuse. Solid waste management problems were partly the results of NISEPA’s inability to cope with the situation because of lack of equipment. It was recommended that there should be an increase in enlightenment to the people on domestic waste disposal to keep the surroundings clean.

Keywords: housing estate, assessment, solid waste, disposal, management

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Authors: Megan Burfoot, Shanta Budha-Magar, Ali Ghaffarianhoseini, Amirhoseini Ghaffarianhoseini

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Domestic backyards offer a valuable opportunity to contribute to biodiversity conservation efforts and promote ecological sustainability by cultivating native plant species. This study focuses on assessing the presence and maintenance of native plants in New Zealand's residential gardens through an online questionnaire. The survey was designed to collect data on the presence of native, exotic, and lawn plants in New Zealand backyards, alongside the allocation of maintenance resources for each category. Targeting a diverse range of residents and property sizes from different regions of New Zealand, this study sought to gain essential insights into practices related to native plant cultivation. Results reveal there is a collective inclination to reduce lawn coverage and introduce a higher abundance of native and exotic species. A thorough analysis of maintenance practices reveals a significant portion of respondents embracing environmentally friendly gardening, characterized by low-intensity fertilizer usage. Homeowners, especially those residing in their properties, demonstrate proactive engagement in backyard maintenance. Native plants were found to require more time, money and fertilizer for maintenance than those of exotic and lawn species. The insights gained from this study can guide targeted efforts to enhance urban biodiversity, making a significant contribution to the preservation and enrichment of New Zealand's unique biodiversity and ecological heritage in urban settings.

Keywords: biodiversity, backyards, planting behaviour, backyard maintenance, native planting

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Authors: Kvnkc Sharma

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Globalization, coupled with increase in competition is compelling organizations to adopt innovative strategies and identify core competencies in order to distinguish themselves from the competition. The capability of an organization is no longer determined by their products or services alone. The intellectual assets and quality of the human resource are fast emerging as key differentiators. Corporations are now positioning themselves as ‘brands’ not solely to market their products and services, but also to lure and to retain the best talent in the business. This paper identifies leadership as the ‘key element’ in developing an organization’s brand, which has a significant influence on the employee’s eventual perception of this external brand as portrayed by the organization. External branding incorporates innovation, consumer concern, trust, quality and sustainability. The paper contends that employees are indeed an organization’s ‘brand ambassadors. Internal branding involves taking care of these ambassadors of corporate brand i.e. human resource. If employees of an organization are not exposed to the organization’s branding (an ongoing process that functionally aligns, motivates and empower employees at all levels to consistently provide a satisfying customer experience), the external brand could be jeopardized. Internal branding, on the other hand, refers to employee’s perception of the organization’s brand. The current business environment can at best, be termed as volatile. Employees with the right technical and behavioral skills remain a scarce resource and the employers need to be ready to capture the attention, interest and commitment of the best and brightest candidates. This paper attempts to review and understand the relationship between employer branding and employee retention. The paper also seeks to identify potential impact of employer branding across all the factors affecting employees.

Keywords: external branding, human resource, internal branding, leadership

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Authors: A. Ait Ahsene F., B. Boughrara S.

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The buildings sector accounts for a significant portion of global energy consumption, with much of this energy used to heat and cool indoor spaces. In this context, the integration of innovative technologies such as phase change materials (PCM) holds promising potential to improve the energy efficiency and thermal comfort of buildings. This research topic explores the benefits and challenges associated with the use of PCMs in buildings, focusing on their ability to store and release thermal energy to regulate indoor temperature. We investigated the different types of PCM available, their thermal properties, and their potential applications in various climate zones and building types. To evaluate and compare the performance of PCMs, our methodology includes a series of laboratory and field experiments. In the laboratory, we measure the thermal storage capacity, melting and solidification temperatures, latent heat, and thermal conductivity of various PCMs. These measurements make it possible to quantify the capacity of each PCM to store and release thermal energy, as well as its capacity to transfer this energy through the construction materials. Additionally, field studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of PCMs in real-world environments. We install PCM systems in real buildings and monitor their operation over time, measuring energy savings, occupant thermal comfort, and material durability. These empirical data allow us to compare the effectiveness of different types of PCMs under real-world use conditions. By combining the results of laboratory and field experiments, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and limitations of PCMs in buildings, as well as recommendations for their effective application in practice.

Keywords: energy saving, phase change materials, material sustainability, buildings sector

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Authors: M. L. Gaol, I. W. Mudita

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Indonesia is well known as a country covered by lush tropical rain forests, but in fact, the northeastern part of the country, within the areas geologically known as Lesser Sunda, the dominant vegetation is tropical savanna. Lesser Sunda is a chain of islands located closer to Australia than to islands in the other parts of the country. Among those of islands in the chain which is closes to Australia, and thereby most strongly affected by the hot and dry Australian climate, is the island of Timor, the western part of which belongs to Indonesia and the eastern part is a sovereign state East Timor. Regardless of being the most dominant vegetation cover, tropical savanna in West Timor, especially its understory, is rarely investigated. This research was therefore carried out to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of the understory of this tropical savanna as the basis for looking at the possibility of introducing other spesieis for various purposes. For this research, 14 terrestrial communities representing major types of the existing savannas in West Timor was selected with aid of the most recently available satellite imagery. At each community, one stand of the size of 50 m x 50 m most likely representing the community was as the site of observation for the type of savanna under investigation. At each of the 14 communities, 20 plots of 1 m x 1 m in size was placed at random to identify understory species and to count the total number of individuals and to estimate the cover of each species. Based on such counts and estimation, the important value of each species was later calculated. The results of this research indicated that the understory of savanna in West Timor consisted of 73 understory species. Of this number of species, 18 species are grasses and 55 are non-grasses. Although lower than non-grass species, grass species indeed dominated the savanna as indicated by their number of individuals (65.33 vs 34.67%), species cover (57.80 vs 42.20%), and important value (123.15 vs 76.85). Of the 14 communities, the lowest density of grass was 13.50/m2 and the highest was 417.50/m2. Of 18 grass species found, all were commonly found as agricultural weeds, whereas of 55 non-grass, 10 species were commonly found as agricultural weeds, environmental weeds, or invasive species. In terms of better managing the savanna in the region, these findings provided the basis for planning a more integrated approach in managing such agricultural and environmental weeds as well as invasive species by considering the structure, composition, and species diversity of the understory species existing in each site. These findings also provided the basis for better understanding the flora of the region as a whole and for developing a flora database of West Timor in future.

Keywords: tropical savanna, understory species, integrated management, weedy and invasive species

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Authors: Nesengani Elelwani Clinton

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This paper presents reflective learning as an opportunity commonly available and used for food waste learning in a food processing company in the transition to sustainable and just food systems. In addressing how employees learn about food waste during food processing, the opportunities available for food waste learning were investigated. Reflective learning appeared to be the most used approach to learning about food waste. In the case of food waste learning, reflective learning was a response after employees wasted a substantial amount of food, where process controllers and team leaders would highlight the issue to employees who wasted food and explain how food waste could be reduced. This showed that learning about food waste is not proactive, and there continues to be a lack of structured learning around food waste. Several challenges were highlighted around reflective learning about food waste. Some of the challenges included understanding the language, lack of interest from employees, set times to reach production targets, and working pressures. These challenges were reported to be hindering factors in understanding food waste learning, which is not structured. A need was identified for proactive learning through structured methods. This is because it was discovered that in the plant, where food processing activities happen, the signage and posters that are there are directly related to other sustainability issues such as food safety and health. This indicated that there are low levels of awareness about food waste. Therefore, this paper argues that food waste learning should be proactive. The proactive learning approach should include structured learning materials around food waste during food processing. In the structuring of the learning materials, individual trainers should be multilingual. This will make it possible for those who do not understand English to understand in their own language. And lastly, there should be signage and posters in the food processing plant around food waste. This will bring more awareness around food waste, and employees' behaviour can be influenced by the posters and signage in the food processing plant. Thus, will enable a transition to a just and sustainable food system.

Keywords: sustainable and just food systems, food waste, food waste learning, reflective learning approach

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Authors: Dina A. Amu, Fifi N. Afifah, Catur Rosidati, Tirton Nefianto

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Indonesia was shaken up by the avian influenza cases that had caused the country suffered losses of millions of dollars. The avian influenza case had even been suspected as a bioterrorism attack since it was an uncommon case in epidemiology. Furthermore, this avian influenza virus is a high pathogenic one and Indonesia has the highest case of fatality rate in the world. Bioterrorism threats or epidemic potential disease outbreaks currently does not exist in Tanjung Priok port yet. However, the surveillance system enhancement on epidemic potential diseases should be taken as a prevention, especially because Indonesia is currently facing the ASEAN Economic Society (AES). Therefore, this research evaluates the health surveillance system which is organized by Control, Quarantine and Surveillance Department, Health Office of Tanjung Priok Port. This study uses qualitative-evaluative method which utilizes Urgency Seriousness Growth (USG) method to determine priority issues and Root Cause analysis to determine the cause of prior problem. The result of this research shows that the implementation of epidemic potential disease surveillance in Tanjung Priok port has not done in the best possible way. It is because the lack of time allocation and the succinctness of the check list of ship's environmental health inspection. Therefore, Health Ministry of Indonesia should recruit more employees at the health office of Tanjung Priok port, hold a simulation of ship's inspection and simplify the list for ship's environmental health inspection.

Keywords: surveillance, epidemic potential disease, port health, bioterrorism

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Authors: M. Abouleish, R. Umer, Z. Sara

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Nitrate can cause serious environmental and human health problems. Effluent from different industries and excessive use of fertilizers have increased the level of nitrate in ground and surface water. Nitrate can convert to nitrite in the body, and as a result, can lead to Methemoglobinemia and cancer. Therefore, different organizations have set standard limits for nitrate and nitrite. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has set a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) of 10 mg N/L for nitrate and 1 mg N/L for nitrite. The removal of nitrate from water and wastewater is very important to ensure the availability of clean water. Different plant materials such as banana peel, rice hull, coconut and bamboo shells, have been studied as biosorbents for the removal of nitrates from water. The use of abundantly existing plant material as an adsorbent material and the lack of energy requirement for the adsorption process makes biosorption a sustainable approach. Therefore, in this research, the fruit of the plant was investigated for its ability to act as a biosorbent to remove the nitrate from wastewater. The effect of pH on nitrate removal was studied using both the raw and chemically activated fruit (adsorbent). Results demonstrated that the adsorbent needs to be chemically activated before usage to remove the nitrate from wastewater. pH did not have a significant effect on the adsorption process, with maximum adsorption of nitrate occurring at pH 4. SEM/EDX results demonstrated that there is no change in the surface of the adsorbent as a result of the chemical activation. Chemical activation of the adsorbent using NaOH increased the removal of nitrate by 6%; therefore, various methods of activation of the adsorbent will be investigated to increase the removal of nitrate.

Keywords: biosorption, nitrates, plant material, water, and wastewater treatment

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Authors: Dalal Sadeqi

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Groundwater is an important component of Kuwait’s water resources. Although limited in quantity and often poor in quality, the significance of this natural source of water cannot be overemphasized. Recharge of groundwater in Kuwait occurs during periodical storm events, especially in open desert areas. Runoff water dissolves accumulated surficial meteoric salts and subsequently leaches them into the groundwater following a period of evaporative enrichment at or near the soil surface. Geochemical processes governing groundwater recharge vary in time and space. Stable isotope (18O and 2H) and geochemical signatures are commonly used to gain some insight into recharge processes and groundwater salinization mechanisms, particularly in arid and semiarid regions. This article addresses the mechanism used in identifying and characterizing the main water shed areas in Kuwait using stable isotopes in an attempt to determine favorable groundwater recharge sites in the country. Stable isotopes of both rainwater and groundwater were targeted in different hydrogeological settings. Additionally, data and information obtained from subsurface logs in the study area were collected and analyzed to develop a better understanding of the lateral and vertical extent of the groundwater aquifers. Geographic Information System (GIS) and RockWorks 3D modelling software were used to map out the hydrogeomorphology of the study area and the subsurface lithology of the investigated aquifers. The collected data and information, including major ion chemistry, isotopes, subsurface characteristics, and hydrogeomorphology, were integrated in a GIS platform to identify and map out suitable natural recharge areas as part of an integrated water resources management scheme that addresses the challenges of the sustainability of the groundwater reserves in the country.

Keywords: scarcity, integrated, recharge, isotope

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Authors: Abraham O. Olaniyi, Oluyemi Oke, Atilade Otunla

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The structural performance of bridges decreases progressively throughout their service life due to many contributing factors (fatigue, carbonation, fire incidents etc.). Around the world, numerous bridges have attained their estimated service life and many have approached this limit. The structural integrity assessment of the burnt composite bridge located at CH57+450, Koita village along Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road, Nigeria, is presented as a case study and shall be forthwith referred to as the 'Koita bridge' in this paper. From the technical evaluation, the residual compressive strength of the concrete piers was found to be below 16.0 N/mm2. This value is very low compared to the expected design value of 30.0 N/mm2. The pier capping beam at pier location 1 has a very low residual compressive strength. The cover to the reinforcement of certain capping beams has an outline of reinforcement which signifies poor concrete cover and the mean compressive strength is also less than 20.0 N/mm2. The steel girder indicated black colouration as a result of the fire incident without any significant structural defect like buckling or warping of the steel section. This paper reviews the structural integrity assessment and repair methodology of the Koita bridge; a composite bridge damaged by fire, highlighting the various challenges of limited obtainable guidance documents about the bridge. The objectives are to increase the understanding of processes and versatile equipment required to test and assess a fire-damaged bridge in order to improve the quality of structural appraisal and rehabilitation; thus, eliminating the prejudice associated with current visual inspection techniques.

Keywords: assessment, bridge, rehabilitation, sustainability

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Authors: Abdul Rahim Al Umairi, Mohamed Gamal El-Din

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The removal of the selected contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) presented under related environmental conditions by Peracetic Acid (PAA) and PAA-UV photolysis processes was examined in this study. A mixture of (CECs) (pesticides and pharmaceutical compounds) was prepared inclean water and treated with different doses of PAA (3.2, 6.4, and 9.6 mg/L) under different pH values (5.2, 7.2, and 9.2). The results revealed that the reactivity of the selected CECs with PAA was classified into three groups: Group 1 poorly reactive (removal <25%), Group2 moderately reactive (removal 25% to 50%), and Group 3 highly reactive (> 50%). Group1 includes atrazine (ATZ) and fluconazole (FCL), Group2 includes carbamazepine (CBZ), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), trimethoprim (TMP), mecoprop (MCPP), diazinon (DZN) and Group 3 includes perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and clindamycin (CLN). The pH was found to affect the CECs' degradation differently, for Group 1 and Group 3, better removal was achieved in the acidand alkaline medium. In contrast, for Group 2 pH effects were not well pronounced. PAA-UV photolysis processes were explored to degrade the recalcitrant indicators compounds: ATZ (Group1) and SMX(Group2). PAA-UV process showed no improvement in the removal of ATZ. In contrast, PAA-UV removed SMX drastically with a pseudo decay rate constant of 0.014 cm2/mJ compared to 0.002 cm2/mJ by UV alone. The contribution of hydroxyl radical to the degradation process using the PAA-UV process was found to be negligible. This study illustratedPAA's capability on the degradation of the CECs presented in relative environmental conditions and unveiled the potential of using PAA-UV processes as advanced oxidation processes.

Keywords: advanced oxidation process, contaminants of emerging concerns, peracetic acid, hydroxyl radical

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Authors: Mandlenkosi George Robert Mahlobo, Tumelo Seadira, Major Melusi Mabuza, Peter Apata Olubambi

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Cathodic protection (CP) has been widely considered a suitable technique for mitigating corrosion of buried metal structures. Plenty of efforts have been made in developing techniques, in particular non-destructive techniques, for monitoring and quantifying the effectiveness of CP to ensure the sustainability and performance of buried steel structures. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of the electrochemical processes at the steel/soil interface during the application of CP on steel in simulated soil. Carbon steel was subjected to electrochemical tests with NS4 solution used as simulated soil conditions for 4 days before applying CP for a further 11 days. A previously modified non-destructive voltammetry technique was applied before and after the application of CP to measure the corrosion rate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), in combination with mathematical modeling through equivalent electric circuits, was applied to determine the electrochemical behavior at the steel/soil interface. The measured corrosion rate was found to have decreased from 410 µm/yr to 8 µm/yr between days 5 and 14 because of the applied CP. Equivalent electrical circuits were successfully constructed and used to adequately model the EIS results. The modeling of the obtained EIS results revealed the formation of corrosion products via a mixed activation-diffusion mechanism during the first 4 days, while the activation mechanism prevailed in the presence of CP, resulting in a protective film. The x-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of corrosion products and the predominant protective film corresponding to the calcareous deposit.

Keywords: carbon steel, cathodic protection, NS4 solution, voltammetry, EIS

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Authors: Anwesha Pathak

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Space law refers to all legal provisions that may regulate or apply to space travel, as well as to space-related activity. Although there is undoubtedly a core corpus of “space law,” rather than designating a conceptually distinct single kind of law, the phrase can be seen as a label applied to a bucket that includes a variety of different laws and regulations. Similar to ‘family law' or ‘environmental law' "space law" refers to a variety of laws that are identified by the subject matter they address rather than by the logical extension of a single legal concept. The word "space law" refers to the Law of Space, which can cover anything from the specifics of an insurance agreement for a specific space launch to the most general guidelines that direct state behaviour in space. Space debris, often referred to as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage, is a term used to describe abandoned human-made objects in space, primarily in Earth orbit. These include disused spacecraft, discarded launch vehicle stages, mission-related detritus, and fragmentation material from the destruction of disused rocket bodies and spacecraft, which is particularly prevalent in Earth orbit. Other types of space debris, besides abandoned human-made objects in orbit, include pieces left over from collisions, erosion, and disintegration, or even paint specks, solidified liquids ejected from spacecraft, and unburned components from solid rocket engines. The initial action of launching or using a spacecraft in near-Earth orbit imposes an external cost on others that is typically not taken into account or fully accounted for in the cost by the launcher or payload owner.

Keywords: space, outer space treaty, geostationary orbit, satellites, spacecrafts

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Authors: Sung Uk Park, Young Su Kang, Sangmo Kang, Young Kweon Suh

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Mineral product, waste concrete (fine aggregates), waste in the optical field, industry, and construction employ separators to separate solids and classify them according to their size. Various sorting machines are used in the industrial field such as those operating under electrical properties, centrifugal force, wind power, vibration, and magnetic force. Study on separators has been carried out to contribute to the environmental industry. In this study, we perform CFD analysis for understanding the basic mechanism of the separation of waste concrete (fine aggregate) particles from air with a machine built with a rotor with blades. In CFD, we first performed two-dimensional particle tracking for various particle sizes for the model with 1 degree, 1.5 degree, and 2 degree angle between each blade to verify the boundary conditions and the method of rotating domain method to be used in 3D. Then we developed 3D numerical model with ANSYS CFX to calculate the air flow and track the particles. We judged the capability of particle separation for given size by counting the number of particles escaping from the domain toward the exit among 10 particles issued at the inlet. We confirm that particles experience stagnant behavior near the exit of the rotating blades where the centrifugal force acting on the particles is in balance with the air drag force. It was also found that the minimum particle size that can be separated by the machine with the rotor is determined by its capability to stay at the outlet of the rotor channels.

Keywords: environmental industry, separator, CFD, fine aggregate

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Authors: Ivelise M. Strozberg, Juliana Sales Frota, Lucas de Oliveira Vale

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The state of Ceara, located in the northeast region of Brazil, is abundant in lateritic soil which has been usually discarded due to its lack of agricultural potential while materials of similar nature have been used as constituents of housing constructive elements in many parts of the world, such as India and Portugal, for decades. Since many of the semi-arid housing conditions in the state of Ceara fail to meet the minimum criteria regarding comfort and safety requirements, this research proposed to study the Ceara lateritic soil and the possibility of its use as a sustainable building block constituent for social housings, collaborating to the improvement of the region living conditions. In order to achieve this objective, soil samples were collected from five different locations within the specific region, three of which presented lateritic nature, being characterized according to the Unified Soil Classification System and the MCT methodology, which is a Brazilian methodology developed during the 80’s that aimed to better describe and approach tropical soils, its characterization and behavior. Two of these samples were used to build two different miniature block prototypes, which were manually molded, heated at low temperatures -( < 300 ºC) in order to save energy and lessen the CO₂ high emission rate common in traditional burning methods- and then submitted to load tests. Among the soils tested, the one with the highest degree of laterization and greater presence of fines constituted the block with the best performance in terms of flexural strength tensions, presenting resistance gains when heated at increasing temperatures, which can indicate that this type of soil has potential towards being used as constructing material.

Keywords: constructive blocks, lateritic soil, MCT methodology, sustainability

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Authors: Alonso-Cañadas J., Galán-Valdivieso F., Saraite-Sariene L., García-Tabuyo M., Alonso-Morales N.

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Green Public Procurement (GPP) has recently gained attention in the academic and policy arenas since climate change has shown the need to be addressed by both private companies and public entities. Such growing interest motivates this article, aiming to explore the most influential journals, publishers, categories, and topics, as well as the recent trends and future research lines in GPP. Based on the Web of Science database, 578 articles from 2004 to February 2022 devoted to GPP are analyzed using Bibliometrix, an R-tool to perform bibliometric analysis, and Google’s Big Query and Data Studio. This article introduces a variety of findings. First, the most influential journals by far are “Journal of Cleaner Production” and “Sustainability,” differing in that the latter is open access while the former publishes via traditional subscription. This result also occurs regarding the main publishers (Elsevier and MDPI). These features lead us to split the sample into open-access journals and traditional journals to deepen into the similarities and differences between them, confirming that traditional journals exhibit a higher degree of influence in the literature than their open-access counterparts in terms of the number of documents, number of citations and impact (according to the H index). Second, this research also highlights the recent emergence of green-related terms (sustainable, environment) and, parallelly, the increase in categorizing GPP papers in “green” WoS categories, particularly since 2019. Finally, a number of related topics are emerging and will lead the research, such as food security, infrastructures, and implementation barriers of GPP.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, green public procurement, open access, traditional journals

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Authors: Mohammad Khalid, Mariya Munir, Jacelyn Rice Boyaue

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Highways are considered a major source of pollution to storm-water, and its runoff can introduce various contaminants, including nutrients, Indicator bacteria, heavy metals, chloride, and phosphorus compounds, which can have negative impacts on receiving waters. This study assessed the ability of biochar for contaminants removal and to improve the water holding capacity of soil biochar mixture. For this, ten commercially available biochar has been strategically selected. Lab scale batch testing was done at 3% and 6% by the weight of the soil to find the preliminary estimate of contaminants removal along with hydraulic conductivity and water retention capacity. Furthermore, from the above-conducted studies, six best performing candidate and an application rate of 6% has been selected for the column studies. Soil biochar mixture was filled in 7.62 cm assembled columns up to a fixed height of 76.2 cm based on hydraulic conductivity. A total of eight column experiments have been conducted for nutrient, heavy metal, and indicator bacteria analysis over a period of one year, which includes a drying as well as a deicing period. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was greatly improved, which is attributed to the high porosity of the biochar soil mixture. Initial data from the column testing shows that biochar may have the ability to significantly remove nutrients, indicator bacteria, and heavy metals. The overall study demonstrates that biochar could be efficiently applied with clay soil to improve the soil's hydraulic characteristics as well as remove the pollutants from the stormwater runoff.

Keywords: biochar, nutrients, indicator bacteria, storm-water treatment, sustainability

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Authors: Nihad Chakri, Btissam El Amrani, Faouzi Berrada, Halima Jounaid, Fouad Amraoui

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In the context of the increasing water resource scarcity in Morocco in recent years, the use of unconventional resources has become imperative. Although efforts have been made in the field of sanitation in urban areas, rural areas, due to their specificities, such as scattered dwellings and limited accessibility, suffer from a lack of basic infrastructure. This work focuses on replicating the Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock (FSAC) model for the treatment and reuse of wastewater from a peri-urban traditional hammam in Casablanca, specifically in the municipality of Dar Bouazza. This initiative is part of the Eco-Hammam project, which aims to minimize the negative impacts of traditional hammams in terms of irrational and uncontrolled consumption of water and wood energy resources. To achieve this, a comprehensive environmental diagnosis of all hammams in the municipality of Dar Bouazza, our study site, has been undertaken. Then, a feasibility study is also conducted to assess the possibility of replicating the FSAC mini-station to treat the wastewater of the selected pilot hammam, namely, My Yacoub II.

Keywords: water resource scarcity, unconventional resources, sanitation, per-urban areas, rural areas, basic infrastructure, replication, reuse of wastewater, traditional hammam, Casablanca, Municipality of Dar Bouazza, negative impacts, environmental diagnosis, feasibility study, pilot hammam, My Yacoub II

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Authors: Noor Us Saher

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Oceans and Marine areas have a great importance, mainly regarding food resources, fishery products and reliance of livelihood. Aquatic pollution is common due to the incorporation of various chemicals mainly entering from urbanization, industrial and commercial facilities, such as oil and chemical spills. Many hazardous wastes and industrial effluents contaminate the nearby areas and initiate to affect the marine environment. These contaminated conditions may become worse in those aquatic environments situated besides the world’s largest cities, which are hubs of various commercial activities. Heavy metal contamination is one of the most important predicaments for marine environments and during past decades this problem has intensified due to an increase in urbanization and industrialization. Coastal regions of Pakistan are facing severe threats from various organic and inorganic pollutants, especially the estuarine and coastal areas of Karachi city, the most populated and industrialized city situated along the coastline. Metal contamination causes severe toxicity in biota resulting the degradation of Marine environments and depletion of fishery resources and sustainability. There are several abiotic (air, water and sediment) and biotic (fauna and flora) indicators that indicate metal contamination. However, all these indicators have certain limitations and complexities, which delay their implementation for rehabilitation and conservation in the marine environment. The inadequate evidences have presented on this significant topic till the time and this study discussed metal pollution and its consequences along the marine environment of Pakistan. This study further helps in identification of possible hazards for the ecological system and allied resources for management strategies and decision making for sustainable approaches.

Keywords: coastal and estuarine environment, heavy metals pollution, pollution indicators, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Geminne Manzano, Porfirio Aliño, Clairecynth Yu, Lilibeth Salvador-Reyes, Viviene Santiago

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Many marine benthic organisms produce secondary metabolites that serve as ecological roles to different biological and environmental factors. The secondary metabolites found in these organisms like algae, sponges, tunicates and worms exhibit variation at different scales. Understanding the chemical variation can be essential in deriving the evolutionary and ecological function of the secondary metabolites that may explain their patterns. Ecological surveys were performed on two collection sites representing from two Philippine marine biogeographic regions – in Oriental Mindoro located on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and in Zamboanga del Sur located at Celebes Sea (CS), where a total of 39 Xestospongia sp. sponges were collected using SCUBA. The sponge samples were transported to the laboratory for taxonomic identification and chemical analysis. Biological and environmental factors were investigated to determine their relation to the abundance and distribution patterns and its spatial variability of their secondary metabolite production. Extracts were subjected to thin-layer chromatography and anti-proliferative assays to confirm the presence of Renieramycin-M and to test its cytotoxicity. The blue sponges were found to be more abundant on the WPS than in CS. Both the benthic community and the fish community in Oriental Mindoro, WPS and Zamboanga del Sur, CS sites are characterized by high species diversity and abundance and a very high biomass category. Environmental factors like depth and monsoonal exposure were also compared showing that wave exposure and depth are associated with the abundance and distribution of the sponges. Renieramycin-M presence using the TLC profiles between the sponge extracts from WPS and from CS showed differences in the Reniermycin-M presence and the presence of other functional groups were observed between the two sites. In terms of bioactivity, different responses were also exhibited by the sponge extracts coming from the different region. Different responses were also noted on its bioactivity depending on the cell lines tested. Exploring the influence of ecological parameters on the chemical variation can provide deeper chemical ecological insights in the knowledge and their potential varied applications at different scales. The results of this study provide further impetus in pursuing studies into patterns and processes of the chemical diversity of the Philippine blue sponge, Xestospongia sp. and the chemical ecological significance of the coral triangle.

Keywords: chemical ecology, porifera, renieramycin-m, spatial variability, Xestospongia sp.

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Authors: Massimo Zucchetti

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In the US, the SPARC-ARC projects of compact tokamaks are being developed: both are aimed at the technological demonstration of fusion power reactors with cutting-edge technology but following different design approaches. However, they show more similarities than differences in the fuel cycle, safety, radiation protection, environmental, waste and decommissioning aspects: all reactors, either experimental or demonstration ones, have to fulfill certain "essential" requirements to pass from virtual to real machines, to be built in the real world. The paper will discuss these "essential" requirements. Some of the relevant activities in these fields, carried out by our research group (ESSENTIAL group), will be briefly reported, with the aim of showing some methodology aspects that have been developed and might be of wider interest. Also, a non-competitive comparison between our results for different projects will be included when useful. The question of advanced D-He3 fuel cycles to be used for those machines will be addressed briefly. In the past, the IGNITOR project of a compact high-magnetic field D-T ignition experiment was found to be able to sustain limited D-He3 plasmas, while the Candor project was a more decisive step toward D-He3 fusion reactors. The following topics will be treated: Waste management and radioactive safety studies for advanced fusion power plants; development of compact high-field advanced fusion reactors; behavior of nuclear materials under irradiation: neutron-induced radioactivity due to side DT reactions, radiation damage; accident analysis; reactor siting.

Keywords: advanced fuel fusion reactors, deuterium-helium3, high-field tokamaks, fusion safety

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Authors: K. F. Khan, Samsuddin Khan

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The Paleoproterozoic phosphorite deposit of Sallopat block of Banswara district of Rajasthan belongs to kalinjara formation of lunavada group of Aravalli Super Group. The phosphorites are found to occur as massive, brecciated, laminated and stromatolitic associated with calcareous quartzite, interbedded dolomite and multi coloured chert. The phosphorites are showing alternate brown and grey coloured concentric rims which are composed of phosphate, calcite and quartz minerals. Petro-mineralogical studies of phosphorite samples using petrological microscope, XRD, FEG- SEM and EDX reveal that apatite-(CaF) and apatite-(CaOH) are phosphate minerals which are intermixed with minor amount of carbonate materials. Sporadic findings of the uniform tiny granules of partially anisotropic apatite-(CaF) along with dolomite, calcite, quartz, muscovite, zeolite and other gangue minerals have been observed with the replacement of phosphate material by quartz and carbonate. The presence of microbial filaments of organic matter and alternate concentric rims of stromatolitic structure may suggest that the deposition of the phosphate took place in shallow marine oxidizing environmental conditions leading to the formation of phosphorite layers as primary biogenic precipitates by bacterial or algal activities. Different forms and texture of phosphate minerals may be due to environmental vicissitudes at the time of deposition followed by some replacement processes and biogenic activities.

Keywords: apatite, petro-mineralogy, phosphorites, sallopat, stromatolites

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Azola Agrienette Mayeza, Madifedile Thasi

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Due to the contractual nature of jobs and employment opportunities in the construction industry and the seeming surplus of potential employees in South Africa, there is a little interest on the part of employers to put in place policies to retain experienced workers. Ironically these are the workers that the companies have expended significant resources on, in terms of training and capabilities development. The construction industry has been experiencing high materials wastages and health and safety issues to score very low on the sustainability agenda as regards resources management and safety. This study carried out an assessment of the poor retention of experienced workers in the construction industry on the capacity to deliver sustainable housing in South Africa. It highlights the economic, safety and resources conservation and other benefits accruable from a high retention of key employees to the South African construction industry towards the delivery of sustainable housing. It presents data that strongly support the hypothesis that high turnover of skilled employees as a result of the industry belief of zero incentive to retain employees beyond the contractual period, is responsible for the high wastages of resources in the industry and the safety issues. A high turnover of experienced employees in the construction industry was found to impact on the industry performance in terms of timely, cost effective and quality delivery of construction projects, particularly when measured against the government sustainable housing agenda. It also results in unplanned expenses required to train replacing employees during project executions as well as company goodwill which ultimately has a huge impact on sustainable housing delivery in South Africa.

Keywords: labour turnover, construction industry, sustainable housing, materials wastage, housing delivery, South Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 362

Authors: Funmilayo Lanrewaju Amao, Amos Olusegun Amao, Odetoye Adeola Sunday, Joseph Joshua Olu

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There is a high magnitude of housing inadequacy in urban centers in Nigeria. This is manifested in quantitative and qualitative terms. Severe overcrowding and insanitary physical environment characterize the housing in the urban centers. The culminating effect of this is the growth of slum areas. This paper takes a critical look at inter-allia history and anatomy, general characteristic, present condition, root causes, official responses and reactions, possible solution and advocacy housing in central city slum of Ibadan. It also examines slum development and consequent deviant behaviors in the inner-city neighborhoods of Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, Nigeria. Residing there are many underemployed and unemployed individuals, these are miscreants who are generally socially frustrated. The activities of this group of people are a cause of concern. Deleterious and anti-social behaviors such as prostitution and house burglary are commonplace in the neighborhoods. The paper examines building conditions in the neighborhoods and the nexus with the deviant behavior of the inhabitants. The paper affirms that there is monumental deficiency in housing quality, while the design and the arrangement of the buildings into spatial units significantly influence the behavior of the residents. The paper suggests a two-prong approach in dealing with the situation. This involves urban renewal and slum upgrading programmes on the one hand, and an improvement in the socio-economic circumstances of the inhabitants, especially an increase in employment opportunity on the other.

Keywords: slum, behavior, housing, poverty, environmental degeneration

Procedia PDF Downloads 398