Search results for: natural menopause

Authors: Lisa Tragbar

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Since the Rio declaration, the agreement resulting from the Earth Summit in 1992, the UN member states acknowledge that peace and environmental protection are deeply linked to each other. It has also been made clear by Contemporary Peace research since the early 2000 that the lack of natural resources increases conflicts, as well as potential war conflicts (general environmental conflict thesis). I argue that peace ethics need to reconsider the role of the environment in peace ethics, from conflict prevention to peacebuilding. Sumak kawsay is a concept that offers a non-anthropocentric perspective on the subject. Several Contemporary Peace Ethicists don’t take environmental peace sufficiently into account. 1. The Peace theorist Johan Galtung famously argues that positive peace depends mostly on social, economic and political factors, as institutional structures establish peace. Galtung has a relational approach to peace, yet only between human interactors. 2. Michael Fox claims in his anti-war argument to consider nonhuman entities in conflicts. Because of their species interrelation, humans cannot decide on the fate of other species. 3. Although Mark Woods considers himself a peace ecologist, following Reichberg and Syse, and argues from a duty-based perspective towards nature, he mostly focuses on the protection of the environment during war conflicts. I want to focus on a non-anthropocentric view to argue that the environment is an entity of human concern in order to construct peace. Based on the premises that the lack of natural resources create tensions that play a significant part in international conflicts and these conflicts are potential war conflicts, I argue that a non-anthropocentric account to peace ethics is an indispensable perspective towards the recovery of these resources and therefore the reduction of war conflicts. Sumak kawsay is an approach contributing to a peaceful environment, which can play a crucial role in international peacekeeping operations. To emphasize sumak kawsay in peace ethics, it is necessary to explain what this principle includes and how it renews Contemporary Peace ethics. The indigenous philosophy of life of the Andean Quechua philosophy in Ecuador and varities from other countries from the Global South include a holistic real-world vision that contains concepts like the de-hierarchization of humans and nature as well as the reciprocity principle towards nature. Sumak kawsay represents the idea of the intrinsic value of nature and an egalitarian way of life and interconnectedness between human and nonhuman entities, which has been widely neglected in Traditional War and Peace Ethics. If sumak kawsay is transferred to peacekeeping practices, peacekeepers have restorative duties not only towards humans, but also towards nature. Resource conservation and environmental protection are the first step towards a positive peace. By recognising that healthy natural resources contribute to peacebuilding, by restoring balance through compensatory justice practices like recovery, by fostering dialogue between peacekeeping forces and by entitling ecosystems with rights natural resources and environmental conflicts are more unlikely to happen. This holistic approach pays nature sufficient attention and can contribute to a positive peace.

Keywords: environment, natural resources, peace, Sumak Kawsay

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Authors: Sara Zatir, Kouide Brahimi, Amira Zatir

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The planning and the environment have long evolved at the same two parallel tracks. But today, we can design a layout without addressing its environmental impact on the landscape. And the role of The documents of the regulatory planning is to control the urbanization of a common and its effects indirectly on the urban environment, but what about the urban landscape? Algeria is like many countries in the world leans primarily on developing sustainable economy, it was officially declared in the Maghreb countries, with the enactment of Law No. 01-20 of 12 December 2001 on the organization and sustainable development of the territory, one of the purposes of this law is the protection, mapping values and rational use of, natural resources, heritage and the natural preservation for future generations. However, Algeria initiatives have recently been undertaken but it still have some infancy which can be detected by the cavity between the delineation instruments,regulations and. In this context, we should note the important role of public authorities in the situation of the living and its future. The idea is to find a balance from the unbalanced conditions (between present and future generations, between economic needs, and the needs of environmental protection and cultural, between individual and collective interests) and to develop new strategies management laws and the urban landscape.

Keywords: Algeria, sustainable, development urban landscapes, laws

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Authors: D. Díaz Fernández, I. Csízi, K. Pető, G. Nagy

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An outstanding part of the animal products are based on the grasslands, due to the fact that the grassland ecosystems can be found all over the globe. In places where economical and successful crop production cannot be managed, the grassland based animal husbandry can be an efficient way of food production. In addition, these ecosystems have an important role in carbon sequestration, and with their rich flora – and fauna connected to it – in conservation of biodiversity. The protection of nature, and the sustainable agriculture is getting more and more attention in the European Union, but, looking at the consumers’ needs, the production of healthy food cannot be neglected either. Because of these facts, the effects of two specific composts - which are officially authorized in organic farming, in Agri-environment Schemes and Natura 2000 programs – on grass yields and sward compositions were investigated in a field trial. The investigation took place in Hungary, on a natural grassland based on solonetz soil. Three rates of compost (10 t/ha, 20 t/ha, 30 t/ha) were tested on 3 m X 10 m experimental plots. Every treatment had four replications and both type of compost had four-four control plots too, this way 32 experimental plots were included in the investigations. The yield of the pasture was harvested two-times (in May and in September) and before cutting the plots, measurements on botanical compositions were made. Samples for laboratory analysis were also taken. Dry matter yield of pasture showed positive responses to the rates of composts. The increase in dry matter yield was partly due to some positive changes in sward composition. It means that the proportions of grass species with higher yield potential increased in ground cover of the sward without depressing out valuable native species of diverse natural grasslands. The research results indicate that the use of organic compost can be an efficient way to increase grass yields in a sustainable way.

Keywords: compost application, dry matter yield, native grassland, sward composition

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Authors: D. Zhigulskaya, V. Anisimov, A. Pikunov, K. Babanova, S. Zuev, A. Latyshkova, K. Сhernozatonskiy, A. Revazov

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Electrophysiology of information processing in reading is certainly a popular research topic. Natural reading, however, has been relatively poorly studied, despite having broad potential applications for learning and education. In the current study, we explore the relationship between text categories and spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) while reading. Thirty healthy volunteers (mean age 26,68 ± 1,84) participated in this study. 15 Russian-language texts were used as stimuli. The first text was used for practice and was excluded from the final analysis. The remaining 14 were opposite pairs of texts in one of 7 categories, the most important of which were: interesting/boring, fiction/non-fiction, free reading/reading with an instruction, reading a text/reading a pseudo text (consisting of strings of letters that formed meaningless words). Participants had to read the texts sequentially on an Apple iPad Pro. EEG was recorded from 12 electrodes simultaneously with eye movement data via ARKit Technology by Apple. EEG spectral amplitude was analyzed in Fz for theta-band (4-8 Hz) and in C3, C4, P3, and P4 for alpha-band (8-14 Hz) using the Friedman test. We found that reading an interesting text was accompanied by an increase in theta spectral amplitude in Fz compared to reading a boring text (3,87 µV ± 0,12 and 3,67 µV ± 0,11, respectively). When instructions are given for reading, we see less alpha activity than during free reading of the same text (3,34 µV ± 0,20 and 3,73 µV ± 0,28, respectively, for C4 as the most representative channel). The non-fiction text elicited less activity in the alpha band (C4: 3,60 µV ± 0,25) than the fiction text (C4: 3,66 µV ± 0,26). A significant difference in alpha spectral amplitude was also observed between the regular text (C4: 3,64 µV ± 0,29) and the pseudo text (C4: 3,38 µV ± 0,22). These results suggest that some brain activity we see on EEG is sensitive to particular features of the text. We propose that changes in theta and alpha bands during reading may serve as electrophysiological tools for assessing the reader’s cognitive state as well as his or her attitude to the text and the perceived information. These physiological markers have prospective practical value for developing technological solutions and biofeedback systems for reading in particular and for education in general.

Keywords: EEG, natural reading, reader's cognitive state, theta-rhythm, alpha-rhythm

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Authors: Lubica Hikkerova, Jean-Michel Sahut

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This article aims to better understand how a natural park, with a touristic vocation, can benefit from its sustainable development approach to enhance the customer experience. For this aim, we analyze, on the one hand, the interactions between the different stakeholders in this sustainable tourism offer, their ways of cooperating to build this offer and, on the other hand, the perceptions of customers. To serve this purpose, two complementary qualitative methodologies have been conducted. As part of a systemic approach, a first study, through group discussions, was conducted with three categories of participants: (I) customers, (II) representatives of the park, communities, tourism offices and associations and 3-service providers in the park. For the second study, semi-directive interviews were realized with park managers and customers. Two levels of contributions have been found. First, we have demonstrated the value of a systemic approach to understanding sustainable tourism. Then, we developed, in the empirical part, a model of causal loops that allowed us to identify the various factors of the offer that decided potential tourists to visit the park and their impact on customer experience. The complementarity of this approach with semi-directive interviews with all the stakeholders enabled us to issue recommendations to improve the customer experience.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, systematic approach, price, park

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Authors: B. N. Makhanya, S. F. Ndulini, M. S. Mthembu

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Heavy metals are hazardous pollutants present in both industrial and domestic wastewater. They are usually disposed directly into natural streams, and when left untreated, they are a major cause of natural degradation and diseases. This study aimed to determine the ability of microalgae to remove heavy metals from coal mine wastewater. The green algae were grown and used for heavy metal removal in a laboratory bench. The physicochemical parameters and heavy metal removal were determined at 24 hours intervals for 5 days. The highest removal efficiencies were found to be 85%, 95%, and 99%, for Fe, Zn, and Cd, respectively. Copper and aluminium both had 100%. The results also indicated that the correlation between physicochemical parameters and all heavy metals were ranging from (0.50 ≤ r ≤ 0.85) for temperature, which indicated moderate positive to a strong positive correlation, pH had a very weak negative to a very weak positive correlation (-0.27 ≤ r ≤ 0.11), and chemical oxygen demand had a fair positive to a very strong positive correlation (0.69 ≤ r ≤ 0.98). The paired t-test indicated the removal of heavy metals to be statistically significant (0.007 ≥ p ≥ 0.000). Therefore, results showed that the microalgae used in the study were capable of removing heavy metals from industrial wastewater using possible mechanisms such as binding and absorption. Compared to the currently used technology for wastewater treatment, the microalgae may be the alternative to industrial wastewater treatment.

Keywords: heavy metals, industrial wastewater, microalgae, physiochemical parameters

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Authors: Salah A. Aly, Mohammed A. Ibrahim, Mostafa M. khttab

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The amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste has increased considerably over the last few decades. From the viewpoint of environmental preservation and effective utilization of resources, crushing C&D concrete waste to produce coarse aggregate (CA) with different replacement percentage for the production of new concrete is one common means for achieving a more environment-friendly concrete. In the study presented herein, the investigation was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the selection of the materials was carried out and the physical, mechanical and chemical characteristics of these materials were evaluated. Different concrete mixes were designed. The investigation parameter was Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) ratios. The mechanical properties of all mixes were evaluated based on compressive strength and workability results. Accordingly, two mixes have been chosen to be used in the next phase. In the second phase, the study of the structural behavior of the concrete beams was developed. Sixteen beams were casted to investigate the effect of RCA ratios, the shear span to depth ratios and the effect of different locations and reinforcement of openings on the shear behavior of the tested specimens. All these beams were designed to fail in shear. Test results of the compressive strength of concrete indicated that, replacement of natural aggregate by up to 50% recycled concrete aggregates in mixtures with 350 Kg/m3 cement content led to increase of concrete compressive strength. Moreover, the tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity of the specimens with RCA have very close values to those with natural aggregates. The ultimate shear strength of beams with RCA is very close to those with natural aggregates indicating the possibility of using RCA as partial replacement to produce structural concrete elements. The validity of both the Egyptian Code for the design and implementation of Concrete Structures (ECCS) 203-2007 and American Concrete Institute (ACI) 318-2011Codes for estimating the shear strength of the tested RCA beams was investigated. It was found that the codes procedures gives conservative estimates for shear strength.

Keywords: construction and demolition (C&D) waste, coarse aggregate (CA), recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), opening

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Authors: Weber A. R. Souza, Andre A. N. Dantas, Marcio A. Medeiros, Rafaella F. Costa

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The erosive processes are natural phenomena that cause changes in the soil continuously due to the actions of natural erosive agents and their speed can be intensified or retarded by factors such as climate, inclination, type of matrix rock, vegetation and anthropic activities, the latter being very relevant in occupied areas without planning and urban infrastructure. Inadequate housing sites associated with an inefficient urban drainage network and lack of vegetation cover potentiate the erosive processes that, over time, are gaining alarming proportions, as is the case of the erosion in Planaltina in Federal district, a Brazilian state in the central west. Thus, the aim of this work was to compare the use of Vetiver grass and Alfalfa as vegetation cover to slope protection. For that, a study was carried out in the scientific literature about the improvement of the soil properties provided by them and verification of the safety factor through the simulation of slopes with different heights and inclination using SLOPE / W software. The Vetiver grass presented little more satisfactory results than the Alfalfa, but these obtained results slightly closer to that of the vetiver grass in less time of planting.

Keywords: erosive processes, planting, slope protection, vegetation cover

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Authors: Napoleana-Anna Chaliasou, Andrew Heath, Kevin Paine

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Fly ash-slag based Geopolymer Cement (GPC) is presenting mechanical properties and environmental advantages that make it the predominant “green” alternative to Portland Cement (PC). Although numerous life-cycle analyses praising its environmental advantages, disposal after the end of its life remains as an issue that has been barely explored. The present study is investigating the recyclability of fly ash-slag GPC as aggregate in mortars. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of GPC fine Recycled Aggregates (RA), at replacement levels of 25% and 50%, on the main mechanical properties of PC and GPC mortar mixes. The results were compared with those obtained by corresponding mixes incorporating natural and PC-RA. The main physical properties of GPC-RA were examined and proven to be comparable to those of PC-RA and slightly inferior to those of natural sand. A negligible effect was observed at 28-day compressive and flexural strength of PC mortars with GPC aggregates having a milder effect than PC. As far as GPC mortars are concerned, the influence of GPC aggregates was enhancing for the investigated mechanical properties. Additionally, a screening test showed that recycled geopolymer aggregates are not prone of inducing alkali silica reaction.

Keywords: concrete recycling, geopolymer cement, fly ash, construction wastes

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Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

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Authors: Peter Palasti, Eva Kerepeczki

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Extensive fish farming is one of the most traditional forms of aquaculture in Europe, usually practiced in large pond systems with earthen beds, where the growth of fish is based on natural feed and supplementary foraging. These farms have semi-natural environmental conditions, sustaining diverse wildlife communities that have complex effects on fish production and also provide a livelihood for many wetland related taxa. Based on their characteristics, these communities could be sources of various ecosystem services (ESs), that could also enhance the value and enable the multifunctional use of these artificially constructed and maintained production zones. To identify and estimate the whole range of wildlife’s contribution we have conducted an integrated assessment in an extensively managed pond system in Biharugra, Hungary, where we studied 14 previously revealed ESs: fish and reed production, water storage, water and air quality regulation, CO2 absorption, groundwater recharge, aesthetics, recreational activities, inspiration, education, scientific research, presence of semi-natural habitats and useful/protected species. ESs were collected through structured interviews with the local experts of all major stakeholder groups, where we have also gathered information about the known forms, levels (none, low, high) and orientations (positive, negative) of the contributions of the wildlife community. After that, a quantitative analysis was carried out: we calculated the total mean value of the services being used between 2014-16, then we estimated the value and percentage of contributions. For the quantification, we mainly used biophysical indicators with the available data and empirical knowledge of the local experts. During the interviews, 12 of the previously listed services (85%) were mentioned to be related to wildlife community, consisting of 5 fully (e.g., recreation, reed production) and seven partially dependent ESs (e.g., inspiration, CO2 absorption) from our list. The orientation of the contributions was said to be positive almost every time; however, in the case of fish production, the feeding habit of some wild species (Phalacrocorax carbo, Lutra lutra) caused significant losses in fish stocks in the study period. During the biophysical assessment, we calculated the total mean value of the services and quantified the aid of wildlife community at the following services: fish and reed production, recreation, CO2 absorption, and the presence of semi-natural habitats and wild species. The combined results of our interviews and biophysical evaluations showed that the presence of wildlife community not just greatly increased the productivity of the fish farms in Biharugra (with ~53% of natural yield generated by planktonic and benthic communities) but also enhanced the multifunctionality of the system through expanding the quality and number of its services. With these abilities, extensively managed fishponds could play an important role in the future as refugia for wetland related services and species threatened by the effects of global warming.

Keywords: ecosystem services, fishpond systems, integrated assessment, wildlife community

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Authors: Mesfin Getu Woldetensay

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Representatives and commercially viable natural gas liquids (NGLs) recovery processes were studied under various feed conditions that are classified as lean and rich. The conventional turbo- expander process scheme (ISS) was taken as a base case. The performance of this scheme was compared against with the gas sub-cooled process (GSP), cold residue-gas (CRR) and recycle split-vapor (RSV), enhanced NGL recovery process (IPSI-1) and enhanced NGL recovery process with internal refrigeration (IPSI-2). The development made for the GSP, CRR and RSV are at the top section of the demethanizer column whereas the IPSI-1 and IPSI-2 improvement focus in the lower section. HYSYS process flowsheet was initially developed for all the processes including the ISS under a common criteria that could help to demonstrate the performance comparison. Accordingly, a number of simulation runs were made for the selected eight types of feed. Results show that the reboiler duty requirement using rich feeds for GSP, CRR and RSV is quite high compared to IPSI-1 and IPSI-2. The latter shows relatively lower duty due to the presence of self-refrigeration system that allows the inlet feed to be used for achieving cooling without the need to use propane refrigerant. The energy consumption for lean feed is much lower than that of the rich feed in all process schemes.

Keywords: composition, lean, rich, duty

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Authors: H. Alamri

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Natural fiber reinforced composites have attracted researchers for their desirable properties of toughness, high modulus, low density, recyclability, and renewability. In fact, the use of natural fibers in polymer composites has the potential to produce materials with higher specific strength and specific modulus due of their low density. Likewise, polymer-nano-filler composites have been widely investigated for their unique and significant improvement in strength, modulus, impact strength, barrier properties, heat resistance and thermal stability. In this paper, The addition of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) with three different weight percentages (1%, 3% and 5%) on enhancing barrier and flexural strength and modulus of cellulose-fiber (CF) /epoxy composites after water treatment for six months was studied. Results indicated that water uptake decreased as HNT content increased. The presence of HNT improved flexural strength and flexural modulus of CF/epoxy composites. SEM results showed damages in fiber-matrix interfacial bonding due to water absorption. The addition of HNTs was found to enhance to adhesion between fibers and matrix.

Keywords: mechanical properties, epoxy, nanocomposites, halloysite nanotubes

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Authors: S. Nandal, R. Bhargava

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The paper contains a numerical study of the unsteady magneto-hydrodynamic natural convection flow of nanofluids within a symmetrical wavy walled trapezoidal enclosure. The length and height of enclosure are both considered equal to L. Two-phase nanofluid model is employed. The governing equations of nanofluid flow along with boundary conditions are non-dimensionalized and are solved using one of Meshfree technique (EFGM method). Meshfree numerical technique does not require a predefined mesh for discretization purpose. The bottom wavy wall of the enclosure is defined using a cosine function. Element free Galerkin method (EFGM) does not require the domain. The effects of various parameters namely time t, amplitude of bottom wavy wall a, Brownian motion parameter Nb and thermophoresis parameter Nt is examined on rate of heat and mass transfer to get a visualization of cooling and heating effects. Such problems have important applications in heat exchangers or solar collectors, as wavy walled enclosures enhance heat transfer in comparison to flat walled enclosures.

Keywords: heat transfer, meshfree methods, nanofluid, trapezoidal enclosure

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Authors: Hakim Aguedal, Abdelkader Iddou, Abdallah Aziz, Djillali Reda Merouani, Ferhat Bensaleh, Saleh Bensadek

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The textile industry produces high amount of colored effluent each year. The management or treatment of these discharges depends on the applied techniques. Adsorption is one of wastewater treatment techniques destined to treat this kind of pollution, and the performance and efficiency predominantly depend on the nature of the adsorbent used. Therefore, scientific research is directed towards the development of new materials using different physical and chemical treatments to improve their adsorption capacities. In the same perspective, we looked at the effect of the heat treatment on the effectiveness of diatomite, which is found in abundance in Algeria. The textile dye Orange Bezaktiv (SRL-150) which is used as organic pollutants in this study is provided by the textile company SOITEXHAM in Oran city (west Algeria). The effect of different physicochemical parameters on the adsorption of SRL-150 on natural and modified diatomite is studied, and the results of the kinetics and adsorption isotherms were modeled.

Keywords: wastewater treatment, diatomite, adsorption, dye pollution, kinetic, isotherm

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Authors: Mateusz Meserszmit, Mariusz Chrabąszcz, Adriana Trojanowska-Olichwer, Zygmunt Kącki

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Semi-natural meadows are valuable communities from the point of view of biodiversity, but their survival is strongly related to human activity. Unfortunately, the current status of preservation of extensively used meadows in Europe is frequently assessed as “unfavorable”. This is due to agricultural activity, in particular the lack of appropriate conservation procedures such as the cutting of meadows or livestock grazing. However, for more effective protective measures, the preservation of the biological diversity of meadows requires an interdisciplinary approach from both scientists and practitioners from many fields. Our research aimed to present the possibility of conservation of semi-natural meadows using cut biomass for the production of bioenergy – biogas, taking into consideration the botanical characteristics of the studied habitat and the chemical properties of biomass. A field study was conducted in Poland, within an area covered by the European Union's nature conservation programme. The samples were collected on four dates (May 24th, July 1st, July 23rd, and September 1st) from a study site established within a Molinion meadow. The biomass collected at the earliest date mostly consisted of plants with flowers in bud or fully open flowers. At the later harvest dates, most plants were at the fruiting or seed shed stage. An earlier stage of plant growth contributed to a lower biomass yield, which also resulted in a lower methane yield per hectare. The methane yield per hectare was at the end of May 482 m3 CH4 ha-1, at the beginning of July 867 m3 CH4 ha-1, at the end of July 759 m3 CH4 ha-1 and at the beginning of September 730 m3 CH4 ha-1. The biomass harvested in May demonstrated a significantly higher content of the elements: N, P, and K, but a lower Ca content compared to later harvested biomass, which may affect the biogas production process. The use of hay as a source of renewable energy can become an important element of conservation adapted for this type of habitat.

Keywords: nature conservation, biomass, bioenergy, grassland

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Authors: Ankur Gupta, Jayant Raj Saurav, Shantanu Bhattacharya

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In this work we report an effective water filtration system based on the photo catalytic performance of semiconducting dense nano-brushes under natural sunlight. During thin-film photocatalysis usually performed by a deposited layer of photocatalyst, a stagnant boundary layer is created near the catalyst which adversely affects the rate of adsorption because of diffusional restrictions. One strategy that may be used is to disrupt this laminar boundary layer by creating a super dense nanostructure near the surface of the catalyst. Further it is adequate to fabricate a structured filter element for a through pass of the water with as grown nanostructures coming out of the surface of such an element. So, the dye remediation is performed through solar means. This remediation was initially limited to lower efficiency because of diffusional restrictions but has now turned around as a fast process owing to the development of the filter materials with standing out dense nanostructures. The effect of increased surface area due to microholes on fraction adsorbed is also investigated and found that there is an optimum value of hole diameter for maximum adsorption.

Keywords: nano materials, photocatalysis, waste water treatment, water remediation

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Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, E. Bafa, C. Fassoulas, M. Panoutsopoulou

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The role of volunteers in disaster management is of decisive importance and the need of their involvement is well recognized, both for prevention measures and for disaster management. During major catastrophes, whereas professional personnel are outsourced, the role of volunteers is crucial. In Greece experience has shown that various groups operating in the civil protection mechanism like local administration staff or volunteers, in many cases do not have the necessary knowledge and information on best practices to act against natural disasters. One of the major problems is the lack of volunteers’ education and training. In the above given framework, this paper presents the results of a survey aimed to identify the level of education and preparedness of civil protection volunteers in Greece. Furthermore, the implementation of earthquake protection measures at individual, family and working level, are explored. More specifically, the survey questionnaire investigates issues regarding pre-earthquake protection actions, appropriate attitudes and behaviors during an earthquake and existence of contingency plans in the workplace. The questionnaires were administered to citizens from different regions of the country and who attend the civil protection training program: “Protect Myself and Others”. A closed-form questionnaire was developed for the survey, which contained questions regarding the following: a) knowledge of self-protective actions; b) existence of emergency planning at home; c) existence of emergency planning at workplace (hazard mitigation actions, evacuation plan, and performance of drills); and, d) respondents` perception about their level of earthquake preparedness. The results revealed a serious lack of knowledge and preparedness among respondents. Taking into consideration the aforementioned gap and in order to raise awareness and improve preparedness and effective response of volunteers acting in civil protection, the EVANDE project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC). The aim of that project is to educate and train civil protection volunteers on the most serious natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, and earthquakes, and thus, increase their performance.

Keywords: civil protection, earthquake, preparedness, volunteers

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Authors: Boris M. Popović, Tatjana Jurić, Bojana Blagojević, Denis Uka, Ružica Ždero Pavlović

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Green solvents are environmentally friendly and greatly improve the sustainability of chemical processes. There is a growing interest in the green extraction of polyphenols from fruits. In this study, we consider three Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) systems based on choline chloride as a hydrogen bond acceptor and malic acid, urea, and fructose as hydrogen bond donors. NADES systems were prepared by heating and stirring, ultrasound, and microwave (MW) methods. Sour cherry pomace was used as a natural source of polyphenols. Polyphenol extraction from cherry pomace was performed by ultrasound-assisted extraction and microwave-assisted extraction and compared with conventional heat and stirring method extraction. It was found that MW-assisted preparation of NADES was the fastest, requiring less than 30 s. Also, MW extraction of polyphenols was the most rapid, with less than 5 min necessary for the extract preparation. All three NADES systems were highly efficient for anthocyanin extraction, but the most efficient was the system with malic acid as a hydrogen bond donor (yield of anthocyanin content was enhanced by 62.33% after MW extraction with NADES compared with the conventional solvent).

Keywords: anthocyanins, green extraction, NADES, polyphenols

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Authors: Sharifullah Ahmed, Sarwar Jahan Md. Yasin

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Shallow foundations on unimproved soft natural soils can undergo a high consolidation and secondary settlement. For low and medium rise building projects on such soil condition, pile foundation may not be cost effective. In such cases an alternative to pile foundations may be shallow strip footings placed on a double layered improved soil system soil. The upper layer of this system is untreated or cement treated compacted sand and underlying layer is natural soft clay. This system will reduce the settlement to an allowable limit. The current research has been conducted with the settlement of a rigid plane-strain strip footing of 2.5 m width placed on the surface of a soil consisting of an untreated or cement treated sand layer overlying a bed of homogeneous soft clay. The settlement of the mentioned shallow foundation has been studied considering both cases with the thicknesses of the sand layer are 0.3 to 0.9 times the width of footing. The response of the clay layer is assumed as undrained for plastic loading stages and drained during consolidation stages. The response of the sand layer is drained during all loading stages. FEM analysis was done using PLAXIS 2D Version 8.0. A natural clay deposit of 15 m thickness and 18 m width has been modeled using Hardening Soil Model, Soft Soil Model, Soft Soil Creep Model, and upper improvement layer has been modeled using only Hardening Soil Model. The groundwater level is at the top level of the clay deposit that made the system fully saturated. Parametric study has been conducted to determine the effect of thickness, density, cementation of the sand mat and density, shear strength of the soft clay layer on the settlement of strip foundation under the uniformly distributed vertical load of varying value. A set of the chart has been established for designing shallow strip footing on the sand mat over thick, soft clay deposit through obtaining the particular thickness of sand mat for particular subsoil parameter to ensure no punching shear failure and no settlement beyond allowable level. Design guideline in the form of non-dimensional charts has been developed for footing pressure equivalent to medium-rise residential or commercial building foundation with strip footing on soft inorganic Normally Consolidated (NC) soil of Bangladesh having void ratio from 1.0 to 1.45.

Keywords: design charts, ground improvement, PLAXIS 2D, primary and secondary settlement, sand mat, soft clay

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Authors: Engin Eroğlu, Oktay Yıldız, Necmi Aksoy, Akif Keten, Mehmet Kıvanç Ak, Şeref Keskin, Elif Atmaca, Sertaç Kaya

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Nowadays, green spaces in urban areas are under threat and decreasing their percentages in the urban areas because of increasing population, urbanization, migration, and some cultural changes in quality. An important element of the natural landscape water and water-related natural ecosystems are exposed to corruption due to these pressures. A landscape has owned many different types of elements or units, a more dominant structure than other landscapes as good or bad perceptible extent different direction and variable reveals a unique structure and character of the landscape. Whereas landscapes deal with two main groups as urban and rural according to their location on the world, especially intersection areas of urban and rural named semi-urban or semi-rural present variety landscape features. The main components of the landscape are defined as patch-matrix-corridor. The corridors include quite various vegetation types such as riparian, wetland and the others. In urban areas, natural water corridors are an important elements of the diversity of the riparian vegetation cover. In particular, water corridors attract attention with a natural diversity and lack of fragmentation, degradation and artificial results. Thanks to these features, without a doubt, water corridors are the important component of all cities in the world. These corridors not only divide the city into two separate sides, but also assured the ecological connectivity between the two sides of the city. The main objective of this study is to determine the vegetation and habitat features of urban stream corridor according to environmental interactions. Within this context, this study will be realized that 'Asar Suyu' is an important component of the city of Düzce. Moreover, the riparian zone touched contiguous area borders of the city and overlaid the urban development limits of the city, determining of characteristics of the corridor will be carried out as floristic and habitat analysis. Consequently, vegetation structure and habitat features which play an important role between riparian zone vegetation covers and environmental interaction will be determined. This study includes first results of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK-116O596; 'Determining of Landscape Character of Urban Water Corridors as Visual and Ecological; A Case Study of Asar Suyu in Duzce').

Keywords: corridor, Duzce, landscape ecology, riparian vegetation

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Authors: Taba Tath

Abstract:

Arunachal Pradesh, located in the easternmost part of India, is known for its natural beauty and diverse tribal lifestyles. The state has the highest species richness and biological diversity among Northeast states in terms of flora, fauna, and tribal traditions and culture. The protection of nature and culture is a practice that is widely used by governments or nongovernmental organizations seeking to preserve the scenic beauty of landscapes and their natural resources in spaces that stand out for their natural and cultural value and have not been heavily impacted by human activity. The whole of Arunachal Pradesh comes under the purview of special permits such as the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and Protected Area Permit (PAP) for domestic and foreign travellers, respectively. Due to politically vibrant areas and naturally fragile in nature, the state needs to be protected, but at the same time, the demand for tourism activities is increasing gradually due to its unique blend of nature and socio-cultural richness. There are 13 protected areas in the state which is unexplored, and there are no tourism activities in these protected areas except for Namdapha National Park. Out of 13 protected areas, the Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the well-managed protected areas located near the Assam-Arunachal border, approximately 40km away from Tezpur town, Assam. The state has great potential for wildlife and nature-based tourism development, which can also indirectly support wildlife and nature-based livelihood options for the local inhabitants living in the peripheral of the sanctuary area due to its high richness in terms of flora and fauna. To promote the richness of the state, boost tourism, and the economic, social and environmental development of the area and local communities, a proper tourism management practice and framework are very much required. The research paper has made an attempt to study the role of stakeholders in preserving and promoting the Protected Areas for tourism development in a sustainable way. This is both a primary and secondary study conducted with field visits, interaction, questionnaire and observation with the various stakeholders and also conducted with the Government reports, magazines and other published sources available. Furthermore, this study will be relevant to all stakeholders for having knowledge and processes for promoting tourism in Protected Areas in a sustainable way. The results will provide relevant information and process for the management and promotion of the protected Areas and to strengthen the sustainable tourism activities in these areas.

Keywords: protected area, inner line permit, protected area permit, management, government, nongovernmental organization, stakeholders, sustainable, natural resources

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Authors: Darius Phiri, Moses Chibesa, Donald Zulu, Robby Kasubika

Abstract:

In Zambia, wildlife is co-managed by Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the local communities by sharing management responsibilities and benefits derived from harvesting wildlife resources under a benefit sharing mechanism. Although the benefit sharing mechanism has been formulated under good principles, it is still facing numerous challenges. In response to these challenges, a study on the sustainability of ZAWA benefit sharing mechanism was carried out in order to assess its potential and continuity in line with community empowerment and wildlife resources management. Systematic sampling was used with a sampling intensity of 4% to administer three types of questionnaires to community members in Mumbwa Game Management Area (GMA), ZAWA officers, and to the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources (MTENR) staffs. The collected data was then analysed using SPSS version 16.5. The findings indicated that many people in the GMA do not participate fully because of lacking satisfactory benefits. However, the mechanism contribute to the community well-being and can still remain sustainable especially if measures to address the current challenges are put in place.

Keywords: benefit sharing, concessions, licenses, poaching, local communities, sustainability

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Authors: Oliver Kinnane, Aidan Reilly, John Grimes, Sara Pavia, Rosanne Walker

Abstract:

Unwanted sound reflection can create acoustic discomfort and lead to problems of speech comprehensibility. Contemporary building techniques enable highly finished internal walls resulting in sound reflective surfaces. In contrast, sustainable construction materials using natural and vegetal materials, are often more porous and absorptive. Hemp shiv is used as an aggregate and when mixed with lime binder creates a low-embodied-energy concrete. Cement replacements such as ground granulated blast slag (GGBS), a byproduct of other industrial processes, are viewed as more sustainable alternatives to high-embodied-energy cement. Hemp concretes exhibit good hygrothermal performance. This has focused much research attention on them as natural and sustainable low-energy alternatives to standard concretes. A less explored benefit is the acoustic absorption capability of hemp-based concretes. This work investigates hemp-lime-GGBS concrete specifically, and shows that it exhibits high levels of sound absorption.

Keywords: hemp, hempcrete, acoustic absorption, GGBS

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Authors: Ali Oveysi Sarabi

Abstract:

The dimensions of nanostructures are in the range of inter-atomic spacing of the structures which makes them impossible to be modeled as a continuum. Nanoscale size-effects on vibration analysis of nanobeams embedded in an elastic medium is investigated using different types of beam theory. To this end, Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity is incorporated to various beam theories namely as Euler-Bernoulli beam theory (EBT), Timoshenko beam theory (TBT), Reddy beam theory (RBT), and Levinson beam theory (LBT). The surrounding elastic medium is simulated with both Winkler and Pasternak foundation models and the difference between them is studies. Explicit formulas are presented to obtain the natural frequencies of nanobeam corresponding to each nonlocal beam theory. Selected numerical results are given for different values of the non-local parameter, Winkler modulus parameter, Pasternak modulus parameter and aspect ratio of the beam that imply the effects of them, separately. It is observed that the values of natural frequency are strongly dependent on the stiffness of elastic medium and the value of the non-local parameter and these dependencies varies with the value of aspect ratio and mode number.

Keywords: nanobeams, free vibration, nonlocal elasticity, winkler foundation model, Pasternak foundation model, beam theories

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Authors: Ya-Ting Chuang, Krystle Leung, Ya-Jen Chang, Rosemarie H. DeKruyff, Paul B. Savage, Richard Cruse, Christophe Benoit, Dirk Elewaut, Nicole Baumgarth, Dale T. Umetsu

Abstract:

We examined characteristics of a Natural Killer T (NKT) cell subpopulation that developed during influenza infection in neonatal mice, and that suppressed the subsequent development of allergic asthma in a mouse model. This NKT cell subset expressed CD38 but not CD4, produced IFN-γ, but not IL-17, IL-4 or IL-13, and inhibited the development of airway hyperreactivity (AHR) through contact-dependent suppressive activity against helper CD4 T cells. The NKT subset expanded in the lungs of neonatal mice after infection with influenza, but also after treatment of neonatal mice with a Th1-biasing α-GalCer glycolipid analogue, Nu-α-GalCer. These results suggest that early/neonatal exposure to infection or to antigenic challenge can affect subsequent lung immunity by altering the profile of cells residing in the lung and that some subsets of NKT cells can have direct inhibitory activity against CD4+ T cells in allergic asthma. Importantly, our results also suggest a potential therapy for young children that might provide protection against the development of asthma.

Keywords: NKT subset, asthma, airway hyperreactivity, hygiene hypothesis, influenza

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Authors: Rubén Valcarce-Álvarez, Francisco Jáñez-Martino, Rocío Alaiz-Rodríguez

Abstract:

Cybersecurity challenges, including scams, drug sales, the distribution of child sexual abuse material, fake news, and hate speech on both the surface and deep web, have significantly increased over the past decade. Users who post such content often employ strategies to evade detection by automated filters. Among these tactics, text obfuscation plays an essential role in deceiving detection systems. This approach involves modifying words to make them more difficult for automated systems to interpret while remaining sufficiently readable for human users. In this work, we aim at spotting obfuscated words and the employed techniques, such as leetspeak, word inversion, punctuation changes, and mixed techniques. We benchmark Named Entity Recognition (NER) using models from the BERT family as well as two large language models (LLMs), Llama and Mistral, on XX_NER_WordCamouflage dataset. Our experiments evaluate these models by comparing their precision, recall, F1 scores, and accuracy, both overall and for each individual class.

Keywords: natural language processing (NLP), text obfuscation, named entity recognition (NER), deep learning

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Authors: Qi Liu, Jiqin Yao, Xiaohu Zhou, Bo Zheng

Abstract:

The first artificial cell was produced by Thomas Chang in the 1950s when he was trying to make a mimic of red blood cells. Since then, many different types of artificial cells have been constructed from one of the two approaches: a so-called bottom-up approach, which aims to create a cell from scratch, and a top-down approach, in which genes are sequentially knocked out from organisms until only the minimal genome required for sustaining life remains. In this project, bottom-up approach was used to build a new cell-free expression system which mimics artificial cell that capable of protein expression and communicate with each other. The artificial cells constructed from the bottom-up approach are usually lipid vesicles, polymersomes, hydrogels or aqueous droplets containing the nucleic acids and transcription-translation machinery. However, lipid vesicles based artificial cells capable of communication present several issues in the cell communication research: (1) The lipid vesicles normally lose the important functions such as protein expression within a few hours. (2) The lipid membrane allows the permeation of only small molecules and limits the types of molecules that can be sensed and released to the surrounding environment for chemical communication; (3) The lipid vesicles are prone to rupture due to the imbalance of the osmotic pressure. To address these issues, the hydrogel-based artificial cells were constructed in this work. To construct the artificial cell, polyacrylamide hydrogel was functionalized with Acrylate PEG Succinimidyl Carboxymethyl Ester (ACLT-PEG2000-SCM) moiety on the polymer backbone. The proteinaceous factors can then be immobilized on the polymer backbone by the reaction between primary amines of proteins and N-hydroxysuccinimide esters (NHS esters) of ACLT-PEG2000-SCM, the plasmid template and ribosome were encapsulated inside the hydrogel particles. Because the artificial cell could continuously express protein with the supply of nutrients and energy, the artificial cell-artificial cell communication and artificial cell-natural cell communication could be achieved by combining the artificial cell vector with designed plasmids. The plasmids were designed referring to the quorum sensing (QS) system of bacteria, which largely relied on cognate acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) / transcription pairs. In one communication pair, “sender” is the artificial cell or natural cell that can produce AHL signal molecule by synthesizing the corresponding signal synthase that catalyzed the conversion of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) into AHL, while the “receiver” is the artificial cell or natural cell that can sense the quorum sensing signaling molecule form “sender” and in turn express the gene of interest. In the experiment, GFP was first immobilized inside the hydrogel particle to prove that the functionalized hydrogel particles could be used for protein binding. After that, the successful communication between artificial cell-artificial cell and artificial cell-natural cell was demonstrated, the successful signal between artificial cell-artificial cell or artificial cell-natural cell could be observed by recording the fluorescence signal increase. The hydrogel-based artificial cell designed in this work can help to study the complex communication system in bacteria, it can also be further developed for therapeutic applications.

Keywords: artificial cell, cell-free system, gene circuit, synthetic biology

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Authors: Parvin Abedi, Poorandokht Afshari

Abstract:

Introduction: In 2022, the Youth Law of the Population was notified to all organizations, including the Iranian Ministry of Health. Some of the articles of this law are about the role of midwives in health and treatment to promote childbearing. In this regard, articles number 45, 48, 49, and 50 are related to midwifery work that will be reviewed in this article. Methods: In this review, the law of population youth was reviewed. In this regard, the statistics of midwives working in the treatment and health sector were collected and analyzed according to the population youth law. Results: Nearly 47 000 midwives are working in the public and private sectors of the country and in the healthcare sector; according to Article 49, which states that there should be one midwife for every two parturient women, about 12,000 midwives are needed in the treatment department and about 8,000 midwives are needed in the health department. In Article 50 it is mentioned to modify tariffs and efficiency in order to increase natural childbirth, and in this field, insurance organizations should have sufficient cooperation with payments. The tariff for midwifery services has been increased, but it is not enough for the stressful job of midwifery. The labor incentive for delivery by midwives is also low. Conclusion: Midwives are one of the fundamental pillars of the law of the population, and without increasing the motivation of midwives, it is not possible to increase the rate of natural childbirth and make childbirth pleasant.

Keywords: law of the population, midwife, motivation, childbearing

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Authors: K. Nasir, S. Ahmad, A. Khan, H. Benkreira

Abstract:

The topic of the research is to develop sustainable fire-resistant materials for vibration and acoustic damping of structure and airborne noises from sustainable recycled materials and biodegradable binders. The paper reports, methods and techniques of enhancing fire resistive, vibration and acoustic properties of building insulation materials made from natural resources like wood and recycled materials like rubber and textile waste. The structures are designed to optimize the number, size and stratification of closed (heat insulating) and open (noise insulating) pores. The samples produced are tested for their heat and noise insulating properties, including vibration damping and their structural properties (airflow resistivity, porosity, tortuosity and elastic modulus). The structural properties are then used in theoretical models to check the acoustic insulation measurements. Initial data indicate that one layer of such material can yield as much as 18 times more damping, increasing the loss factor by 18%.

Keywords: fire resistant, vibration damping, acoustic material, vibro-acoustic, thermal insulation, sustainable material, low cost materials, recycled materials, construction material

Procedia PDF Downloads 134