Search results for: subtropical desert climate

Authors: Glaoui Hachemi

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Wind has been proven as a cost effective and reliable energy source. Technological advancements over the last years have placed wind energy in a firm position to compete with conventional power generation technologies. Algeria has a vast uninhabited land area where the south (desert) represents the greatest part with considerable wind regime. In this paper, an analysis of wind energy utilization as a viable energy substitute in six selected sites widely distributed all over the south of Algeria is presented. In this presentation, wind speed frequency distributions data obtained from the Algerian Meteorological Office are used to calculate the average wind speed and the available wind power. The annual energy produced by the Fuhrlander FL 30 wind machine is obtained using two methods. The analysis shows that in the southern Algeria, at 10 m height, the available wind power was found to vary between 160 and 280 W/m2, except for Tamanrasset. The highest potential wind power was found at Adrar, with 88 % of the time the wind speed is above 3 m/s. Besides, it is found that the annual wind energy generated by that machine lie between 33 and 61 MWh, except for Tamanrasset, with only 17 MWh. Since the wind turbines are usually installed at a height greater than 10 m, an increased output of wind energy can be expected. However, the wind resource appears to be suitable for power production on the south and it could provide a viable substitute to diesel oil for irrigation pumps and electricity generation. In this paper, a model of the wind turbine (WT) with permanent magnet generator (PMSG) and its associated controllers is presented. The increase of wind power penetration in power systems has meant that conventional power plants are gradually being replaced by wind farms. In fact, today wind farms are required to actively participate in power system operation in the same way as conventional power plants. In fact, power system operators have revised the grid connection requirements for wind turbines and wind farms, and now demand that these installations be able to carry out more or less the same control tasks as conventional power plants. For dynamic power system simulations, the PMSG wind turbine model includes an aerodynamic rotor model, a lumped mass representation of the drive train system and generator model. In this paper, we propose a model with an implementation in MATLAB / Simulink, each of the system components off-grid small wind turbines.

Keywords: windgenerator systems, permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), wind turbine (WT) modeling, MATLAB simulink environment

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Authors: Mengnan Sun

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It is unclear about the association between air pollution and Tourette Syndrome (TS), although people have suspected that air pollution might trigger TS. TS is a type of neural system disease usually found among children. The number of TS patients has significantly increased in recent decades, suggesting an importance and urgency to examine the possible triggers or conditions that are associated with TS. In this study, the correlation between air pollution and three allergic diseases---asthma, allergic conjunctivitis (AC), and allergic rhinitis (AR)---is examined. Then, a correlation between these allergic diseases and TS is proved. In this way, this study establishes a positive correlation between air pollution and TS. Measures the public can take to help TS patients are also analyzed at the end of this article. The article hopes to raise people’s awareness to reduce air pollution for the good of TS patients or people with other disorders that are associated with air pollution.

Keywords: air pollution, allergic diseases, climate change, Tourette Syndrome

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Authors: Eun-Taek Sin, Hyun-Ju Jang, Chang Geun Song, Yong-Sik Han

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Due to the climate change, the coastal urban area repeatedly suffers from the loss of property and life by flooding. There are three main causes of inland submergence. First, when heavy rain with high intensity occurs, the water quantity in inland cannot be drained into rivers by increase in impervious surface of the land development and defect of the pump, storm sewer. Second, river inundation occurs then water surface level surpasses the top of levee. Finally, Coastal inundation occurs due to rising sea water. However, previous studies ignored the complex mechanism of flooding, and showed discrepancy and inadequacy due to linear summation of each analysis result. In this study, inland flooding and river inundation were analyzed together by HDM-2D model. Petrov-Galerkin stabilizing method and flux-blocking algorithm were applied to simulate the inland flooding. In addition, sink/source terms with exponentially growth rate attribute were added to the shallow water equations to include the inland flooding analysis module. The applications of developed model gave satisfactory results, and provided accurate prediction in comprehensive flooding analysis. The applications of developed model gave satisfactory results, and provided accurate prediction in comprehensive flooding analysis. To consider the coastal surge, another module was developed by adding seawater to the existing Inland Flooding-River Inundation binding module for comprehensive flooding analysis. Based on the combined modules, the Coastal Inundation – Inland & River Flow Interface was simulated by inputting the flow rate and depth data in artificial flume. Accordingly, it was able to analyze the flood patterns of coastal cities over time. This study is expected to help identify the complex causes of flooding in coastal areas where complex flooding occurs, and assist in analyzing damage to coastal cities. Acknowledgements—This research was supported by a grant ‘Development of the Evaluation Technology for Complex Causes of Inundation Vulnerability and the Response Plans in Coastal Urban Areas for Adaptation to Climate Change’ [MPSS-NH-2015-77] from the Natural Hazard Mitigation Research Group, Ministry of Public Safety and Security of Korea.

Keywords: flooding analysis, river inundation, inland flooding, 2D hydrodynamic model

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Authors: Astari Indarsari, Bastian B. Purba, Muhammad Fadlilah

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In Indonesian climates that have the tropic climate, one of the potential energy sources is coming from solar energy. From the solar energy, we can convert it into the others energy, such as electrical energy. In this topic, we want to do the research about Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC). The materials that we use as sensitizer is anthocyanin that we extract from apple skin, because the anthocyanin is one of the most effective as a sensitizer for DSSC. The variable in this research is pH. The pH that we used are pH 0,5; pH 1; pH 1,5; pH 2; pH 2,5. The method is electrolysis, and we use TiO2 as sensitized material. The hypothesis from this research is the smaller pH can make higher the efficiency of the absorbent of the solar energy.

Keywords: anthocyanin, TiO2, DSSC, apple skin

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Authors: A. M. Merino-Lechuga, A. González-Caro, D. Suescum-Morales, E. Fernández-Ledesma, J. R. Jiménez, J. M. Fernández-Rodriguez

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Since the mid-19th century, the boom in the economy and industry has grown exponentially. This has led to an increase in pollution due to rising Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the accumulation of waste, leading to an increasingly imminent future scarcity of raw materials and natural resources. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the primary greenhouse gases, accounting for up to 55% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The manufacturing of construction materials generates approximately 73% of CO₂ emissions, with Portland cement production contributing to 41% of this figure. Hence, there is scientific and social alarm regarding the carbon footprint of construction materials and their influence on climate change. Carbonation of concrete is a natural process whereby CO₂ from the environment penetrates the material, primarily through pores and microcracks. Once inside, carbon dioxide reacts with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and/or CSH, yielding calcium carbonates (CaCO3) and silica gel. Consequently, construction materials act as carbon sinks. This research investigated the effect of accelerated carbonation on the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of two types of non-structural vibrated concrete pavers (conventional and draining) made from natural aggregates and two types of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW). Natural aggregates were replaced by recycled aggregates using a volumetric substitution method, and the CO₂ capture capacity was calculated. Two curing environments were utilized: a carbonation chamber with 5% CO₂ and a standard climatic chamber with atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Additionally, the effect of curing times of 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days on concrete properties was analyzed. Accelerated carbonation in-creased the apparent dry density, reduced water-accessible porosity, improved compressive strength, and decreased setting time to achieve greater mechanical strength. The maximum CO₂ capture ratio was achieved with the use of recycled concrete aggregate (52.52 kg/t) in the draining paver. Accelerated carbonation conditions led to a 525% increase in carbon capture compared to curing under atmospheric conditions. Accelerated carbonation of cement-based products containing recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste is a promising technology for CO₂ capture and utilization, offering a means to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote the new paradigm of circular economy.

Keywords: accelerated carbonation, CO₂ curing, CO₂ uptake and construction and demolition waste., circular economy

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Authors: Amanda Sheard, Garry Lee, Katherine Stockham

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Introduction: Health benefits associated with wine consumption have been well documented; these include anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and cardiovascular protection. The majority of these health benefits have been linked to polyphenols found within wine and grapes. Once consumed polyphenols exhibit free radical quenching capabilities. Environmental factors such as rainfall, temperature, CO2 levels and sunlight exposure have been shown to affect the polyphenol content of grapes. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of growing conditions on the antioxidant capacity of grapes obtained from a single plot vineyard in Perth. This was achieved through the analysis of samples using; oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC), cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) in human red blood cells, ICP-MS and ICP-OES, total polyphenols (PP’s), and total flavonoid’s (FLa). The data obtained was compared to observed climate data. The 14 Selected Vitis Vinefera L. cultivars included Cabernet franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carnelian, Chardonnay, Grenache, Melbec, Merlot, Orange muscat, Rousanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Tempernillo, Verdelho, and Voignier. Results: Notable variation’s between cultivars included results ranging from 125 mg/100 g-350 mg/100 g for PP’s, 93 mg/100 g–300 mg/100 g for FLa, 13 mM T.E/kg–33 mM T.E/kg for ORAC and 0.3 mM Q.E/kg–27 mM Q.E/kg CAA were found between red and white grape cultivars. No correlation was found between CAA and the ORAC obtained in this study; except that white cultivars were consistently lower than red. ICP analysis showed that seeds contained the highest concentration of copper followed by skins and flesh of the grape. A positive correlation between copper and ORAC was found. The ORAC, PP’s, and FLa in red grapes were consistently higher than white grape cultivars; these findings were supported by literature values. Significance: The cellular antioxidant activities of white and red wine cultivars were used to compare the bioactivity of these grapes against the chemical ORAC measurement. The common method of antioxidant activity measurement is the chemical value from ORAC analysis; however this may not reflect the activity within the human body. Hence, the measurements were also carried out using the cellular antioxidant activity to perform a comparison. Additionally, the study explored the influence of weather systems such as El Niño and La Niña on the polyphenol content of Australian wine cultivars grown in Perth.

Keywords: oxygen radical antioxidant activity, cellular antioxidant activity, total polyphenols, total flavonoids, wine grapes, climate

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Authors: Ben Tappin, Ryan McKay

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The political left and right appear to disagree not only over questions of value but, also, over questions of fact—over what is true “out there” in society and the world. Alarmingly, a large body of survey data collected during the past decade suggests that this disagreement tends to be greatest among the most educated and most cognitively sophisticated opposing partisans. In other words, the data show that these individuals display the widest political polarization in their reported factual beliefs. Explanations of this polarization pattern draw heavily on cultural and political factors; yet, the large majority of the evidence originates from one cultural and political context—the United States, a country with a rather unique cultural and political history. One consequence is that widening political polarization conditional on education and cognitive sophistication may be due to idiosyncratic cultural, political or historical factors endogenous to US society—rather than a more general, international phenomenon. We examined widening political polarization conditional on education across Europe, over a topic that is culturally and politically contested; immigration. To do so, we analyzed data from the European Social Survey, a premier survey of countries in and around the European area conducted biennially since 2002. Our main results are threefold. First, we see widening political polarization conditional on education over beliefs about the economic impact of immigration. The foremost countries showing this pattern are the most influential in Europe: Germany and France. However, we also see heterogeneity across countries, with some—such as Belgium—showing no evidence of such polarization. Second, we find that widening political polarization conditional on education is a product of sorting. That is, highly educated partisans exhibit stronger within-group consensus in their beliefs about immigration—the data do not support the view that the more educated partisans are more polarized simply because the less educated fail to adopt a position on the question. Third, and finally, we find some evidence that shocks to the political climate of countries in the European area—for example, the “refugee crisis” of summer 2015—were associated with a subsequent increase in political polarization over immigration conditional on education. The largest increase was observed in Germany, which was at the centre of the so-called refugee crisis in 2015. These results reveal numerous insights: they show that widening political polarization conditional on education is not restricted to the US or native English-speaking culture; that such polarization emerges in the domain of immigration; that it is a product of within-group consensus among the more educated; and, finally, that exogenous shocks to the political climate may be associated with subsequent increases in political polarization conditional on education.

Keywords: beliefs, Europe, immigration, political polarization

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Authors: M. D. Nirmani, K. L. N. Perera, G. H. Galhena

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Dengue has become one of the most important arbo-viral disease in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Aedes aegypti, is the principal vector of the virus, vary in both epidemiological and behavioral characteristics, which could be finely measured through DNA sequence comparison at their population level. Such knowledge in the population differences can assist in implementation of effective vector control strategies allowing to make estimates of the gene flow and adaptive genomic changes, which are important predictors of the spread of Wolbachia infection or insecticide resistance. As such, this study was undertaken to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of Ae. aegypti from Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka, based on the ribosomal protein region which spans between two exons, in order to understand the geographical distribution of genetically distinct mosquito clades and its impact on mosquito control measures. A 320bp DNA region spanning from 681-930 bp, corresponding to the ribosomal protein, was sequenced in 62 Ae. aegypti larvae collected from Galle (N=30) and Colombo (N=32), Sri Lanka. The sequences were aligned using ClustalW and the haplotypes were determined with DnaSP 5.10. Phylogenetic relationships among haplotypes were constructed using the maximum likelihood method under Tamura 3 parameter model in MEGA 7.0.14 including three previously reported sequences of Australian (N=2) and Brazilian (N=1) Ae. aegypti. The bootstrap support was calculated using 1000 replicates and the tree was rooted using Aedes notoscriptus (GenBank accession No. KJ194101). Among all sequences, nineteen different haplotypes were found among which five haplotypes were shared between 80% of mosquitoes in the two populations. Seven haplotypes were unique to each of the population. Phylogenetic tree revealed two basal clades and a single derived clade. All observed haplotypes of the two Ae. aegypti populations were distributed in all the three clades, indicating a lack of genetic differentiation between populations. The Brazilian Ae. aegypti haplotype and one of the Australian haplotypes were grouped together with the Sri Lankan basal haplotype in the same basal clade, whereas the other Australian haplotype was found in the derived clade. Phylogram showed that Galle and Colombo Ae. aegypti populations are highly related to each other despite the large geographic distance (129 Km) indicating a substantial genetic similarity between them. This may have probably arisen from passive migration assisted by human travelling and trade through both land and water as the two areas are bordered by the sea. In addition, studied Sri Lankan mosquito populations were closely related to Australian and Brazilian samples. Probably this might have caused by shipping industry between the three countries as all of them are fully or partially enclosed by sea. For example, illegal fishing boats migrating to Australia by sea is perhaps a good mean of transportation of all life stages of mosquitoes from Sri Lanka. These findings indicate that extensive mosquito migrations occur between populations not only within the country, but also among other countries in the world which might be a main barrier to the successful vector control measures.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, dengue control, extensive mosquito migration, haplotypes, phylogeny, ribosomal protein

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Authors: Mohsen Nouraei, M. Amouei

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Islamic studies are considered in both the Quran and Hadith. Hadith is defined as a set of reports that narrated the words, and behaviors, of infallible persons such as the holy Prophet (pbuh) or the Infallible Imams (as). The issue of biodiversity which is the one of the most important environmental aspects is considered in the field of Hadith. The present paper has investigated biodiversity on the basis of descriptive-analytical methods and with the approach of library-documentary. The household of the Prophet (as) have referred biodiversity that were included diversity of animals, plants, climate etc. In addition to, they also have emphasized on the human need to keep diversity and no damage. It should be noted that they have expressed the rights of the animals and plants for correct using of human, so that human can use these rights in conservation of diversity and their generation.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation of biodiversity, degradation of biodiversity, extinction of biodiversity

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Authors: S. Lahijanian, M. Mobli, B. Baninasab, N. Etemadi

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Low temperature extremes are amongst the major stresses that adversely affect the plant growth and productivity. Cold stress causes oxidative stress, physiological, morphological and biochemical changes in plant cells. Generally, low temperatures similar to salinity and drought exert their negative effects mainly by disrupting the ionic and osmotic equilibrium of the plant cells. Changes in climatic condition leading to more frequent extreme conditions will require adapted crop species on a larger scale in order to sustain agricultural production. Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees (and a few shrubs) in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of this genus dominate the tree flora of Australia. The eucalyptus genus contains more than 580 species and large number of cultivars, which are native to Australia. Large distribution and diversity of compatible eucalyptus cultivars reflect the fact of ecological flexibility of eucalyptus. Some eucalyptus cultivars can sustain hard environmental conditions like high and low temperature, salinity, high level of PH, drought, chilling and freezing which are intensively effective on crops with tropical and subtropical origin. In this study, we tried to evaluate freezing tolerance of 12 eucalyptus genotypes by means of four different morphological and physiological methods: Chlorophyll fluorescence, electrolyte leakage, proline and stomatal density. The studied cultivars include Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. coccifera, E. darlympleana, E. erythrocorys, E. glaucescens, E. globulus, E. gunnii, E. macrocorpa, E. microtheca, E. rubida, E. tereticornis, and E. urnigera. Except for stomatal density recording, in other methods, plants were exposed to five gradual temperature drops: zero, -5, -10, -15 and -20 degree of centigrade and they remained in these temperatures for at least one hour. Experiment for measuring chlorophyll fluorescence showed that genotypes E. erythrocorys and E. camaldulensis were the most resistant genotypes and E. gunnii and E.coccifera were more sensitive than other genotypes to freezing stress effects. In electrolyte leakage experiment with regard to significant interaction between cultivar and temperature, genotypes E. erythrocorys and E.macrocorpa were shown to be the most tolerant genotypes and E. gunnii, E. urnigera, E. microtheca and E. tereticornis with the more ionic leakage percentage showed to be more sensitive to low temperatures. Results of Proline experiment approved that the most resistant genotype to freezing stress is E. erythrocorys. In the stomatal density experiment, the numbers of stomata under microscopic field were totally counted and the results showed that the E. erythrocorys and E. macrocorpa genotypes had the maximum and E. coccifera and E. darlympleana genotypes had minimum number of stomata under microscopic field (0.0605 mm2). In conclusion, E. erythrocorys identified as the most tolerant genotype; meanwhile E. gunnii classified as the most freezing susceptible genotype in this investigation. Further, remarkable correlation was not obtained between the stomatal density and other cold stress measures.

Keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence, cold stress, ionic leakage, proline, stomatal density

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Authors: Gavin Quibell, Martin Kleynhans, Margot Soler

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The Sendai Framework notes that disaster risk reduction is essential for sustainable development, and Disaster Risk Reduction is included in 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and 4 of the SDG targets. However, apart from promoting better governance and resourcing of disaster management agencies, little guidance is given how low-income nations can balance investments across the SDGs to achieve sustainable development in an increasingly climate vulnerable world with increasing prevalence of flood and drought disasters. As one of the world’s poorest nations, Malawi must balance investments across all the SDGs. This paper explores how Malawi’s National Guidelines for Community-based Flood Risk Management integrate sustainable development and flood management objectives at different administrative levels. While Malawi periodically suffers from large, widespread flooding, the greatest impacts are felt through the smaller annual floods and flash floods. The Guidelines address this through principles that recognize that while the protection of human life is the most important priority for flood risk management, addressing the impacts of floods on the rural poor and the economy requires different approaches. The National Guidelines are therefore underpinned by the following; 1. In the short-term investments in flood risk management must focus on breaking the poverty – vulnerability cycle; 2. In the long-term investments in the other SDGs will have the greatest flood risk management benefits; 3. If measures are in place to prevent loss of life and protect strategic infrastructure, it is better to protect more people against small and medium size floods than fewer people against larger floods; 4. Flood prevention measures should focus on small (1:5 return period) floods; 5. Flood protection measures should focus on small and medium floods (1:20 return period) while minimizing the risk of failure in larger floods; 6. The impacts of larger floods ( > 1:50) must be addressed through improved preparedness; 7. The impacts of climate change on flood frequencies are best addressed by focusing on growth not overdesign; and 8. Manage floods and droughts conjunctively. The National Guidelines weave these principles into Malawi’s approach to flood risk management through recommendations for planning and implementing flood prevention, protection and preparedness measures at district, traditional authority and village levels.

Keywords: flood risk management in low-income countries, sustainable development, investments in prevention, protection and preparedness, community-based flood risk management, Malawi

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Authors: Kimberly J. Cribbs, Ryan M. Lefers, TorOve Leiknes, Noreddine Ghaffour

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In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, domestic agriculture is hindered by a lack of freshwater, poor soil quality, and ambient temperatures unsuitable for cultivation resulting in a heavy reliance on imported food. Attempts to minimize the risk of food insecurity by growing crops domestically creates a significant demand on limited freshwater resources in this region. Cultivating food in a greenhouse allows some of these challenges, such as poor soil quality and temperatures unsuitable for cultivation, to be overcome. One of the most common methods for greenhouse cooling is evaporative cooling. This method cools the air by the evaporation of water and requires a large amount of water relative to that needed for plant growth and air with a low relative humidity. Considering that much of the population in GCC countries live within 100 km of a coast and that sea water can be utilized for evaporative cooling, coastal agriculture could reduce the risk of food insecurity and water demand. Unfortunately, coastal regions tend to experience both high temperatures and high relative humidity causing evaporative cooling by itself to be inadequate. Therefore, dehumidification is needed prior to utilizing evaporative cooling. Utilizing a liquid desiccant for air dehumidification is promising, but the desiccant regeneration to retain its dehumidification potential remains a significant obstacle for the adoption of this technology. This project studied the regeneration of a magnesium chloride (MgCl₂) desiccant solution from 20wt% to 30wt% by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) and explored the possibility of using the recovered water for irrigation. Two 0.2 µm hydrophobic PTFE membranes were tested at feed temperatures of 80, 70, and 60°C and with a permeate temperature of 20°C. It was observed that the permeate flux increases as the difference between the feed and coolant temperature increases and also as the feed concentration decreases. At 21wt% the permeate flux was 34,17, and 14 L m⁻² h⁻¹ for feed temperatures of 80, 70, and 60°C, respectively. Salt rejection decreased overtime; however, it remained greater than 99.9% over an experimental time span of 10 hours. The results show that DCMD can successfully regenerate the magnesium chloride desiccant solution.

Keywords: agriculture, direct contact membrane distillation, GCC countries, liquid desiccant, water recovery

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Authors: Fateme Aysin Anka, Farzad Kiani

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Forced migration is a situation in which people are forced to leave their homes against their will due to political conflicts, wars and conflicts, natural disasters, climate change, economic crises, or other emergencies. This type of migration takes place under conditions where people cannot lead a sustainable life due to reasons such as security, shelter and meeting their basic needs. This type of migration may occur in connection with different factors that affect people's living conditions. In addition to these general and widespread reasons, water security and resources will be one that is starting now and will be encountered more and more in the future. Forced migration may occur due to insufficient or depleted water resources in the areas where people live. In this case, people's living conditions become unsustainable, and they may have to go elsewhere, as they cannot obtain their basic needs, such as drinking water, water used for agriculture and industry. To cope with these situations, it is important to minimize the causes, as international organizations and societies must provide assistance (for example, humanitarian aid, shelter, medical support and education) and protection to address (or mitigate) this problem. From the international perspective, plans such as the Green New Deal (GND) and the European Green Deal (EGD) draw attention to the need for people to live equally in a cleaner and greener world. Especially recently, with the advancement of technology, science and methods have become more efficient. In this regard, in this article, a multidisciplinary case model is presented by reinforcing the water problem with an engineering approach within the framework of the social dimension. It is worth emphasizing that this problem is largely linked to climate change and the lack of a sustainable water management perspective. As a matter of fact, the United Nations Development Agency (UNDA) draws attention to this problem in its universally accepted sustainable development goals. Therefore, an artificial intelligence-based approach has been applied to solve this problem by focusing on the water management problem. The most general but also important aspect in the management of water resources is its correct consumption. In this context, the artificial intelligence-based system undertakes tasks such as water demand forecasting and distribution management, emergency and crisis management, water pollution detection and prevention, and maintenance and repair control and forecasting.

Keywords: water resource management, forced migration, multidisciplinary studies, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Oskar Sekowski

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Current global warming causes changes in the traditional zones of viticulture worldwide. During 20th century, the average global air temperature increased by 0.89˚C. The models of climate change indicate that viticulture, currently concentrating in narrow geographic niches, may move towards the poles, to higher geographic latitudes. Global warming may cause changes in traditional viticulture regions. Therefore, there is a need to estimate the climatic conditions and climate change in areas that are not traditionally associated with viticulture, e.g., Poland. The primary objective of this paper is to prepare methodology to evaluate the climatic and meteorological potential for viticulture in Poland based on a case study. Moreover, the additional aim is to evaluate the climatic potential of a mesoregion where a university vineyard is located. The daily data of temperature, precipitation, insolation, and wind speed (1988-2018) from the meteorological station located in Łazy, southern Poland, was used to evaluate 15 climatological parameters and indices connected with viticulture. The next steps of the methodology are based on Geographic Information System methods. The topographical factors such as a slope gradient and slope exposure were created using Digital Elevation Models. The spatial distribution of climatological elements was interpolated by ordinary kriging. The values of each factor and indices were also ranked and classified. The viticultural potential was determined by integrating two suitability maps, i.e., the topographical and climatic ones, and by calculating the average for each pixel. Data analysis shows significant changes in heat accumulation indices that are driven by increases in maximum temperature, mostly increasing number of days with Tmax > 30˚C. The climatic conditions of this mesoregion are sufficient for vitis vinifera viticulture. The values of indicators and insolation are similar to those in the known wine regions located on similar geographical latitudes in Europe. The smallest threat to viticulture in study area is the occurrence of hail and the highest occurrence of frost in the winter. This research provides the basis for evaluating general suitability and climatologic potential for viticulture in Poland. To characterize the climatic potential for viticulture, it is necessary to assess the suitability of all climatological and topographical factors that can influence viticulture. The methodology used in this case study shows places where there is a possibility to create vineyards. It may also be helpful for wine-makers to select grape varieties.

Keywords: climatologic potential, climatic classification, Poland, viticulture

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Authors: Matthew J. Emes, Azadeh Jafari, Maziar Arjomandi

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Velocity fluctuations of shear-generated turbulence are largest in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) of nominal 100 m depth, which can lead to dynamic effects such as galloping and flutter on small physical structures on the ground when the turbulence length scales and characteristic length of the physical structure are the same order of magnitude. Turbulence length scales are a measure of the average sizes of the energy-containing eddies that are widely estimated using two-point cross-correlation analysis to convert the temporal lag to a separation distance using Taylor’s hypothesis that the convection velocity is equal to the mean velocity at the corresponding height. Profiles of turbulence length scales in the neutrally-stratified ASL, as predicted by Monin-Obukhov similarity theory in Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) 85020 for single-point data and ESDU 86010 for two-point correlations, are largely dependent on the aerodynamic roughness length. Field measurements have shown that longitudinal turbulence length scales show significant regional variation, whereas length scales of the vertical component show consistent Obukhov scaling from site to site because of the absence of low-frequency components. Hence, the objective of this experimental study is to compare the similarity theory relationships between the turbulence length scales and aerodynamic roughness length with those calculated using the autocorrelations and cross-correlations of field measurement velocity data at two sites: the Surface Layer Turbulence and Environmental Science Test (SLTEST) facility in a desert ASL in Dugway, Utah, USA and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) wind tower in a rural ASL in Jemalong, NSW, Australia. The results indicate that the longitudinal turbulence length scales increase with increasing aerodynamic roughness length, as opposed to the relationships derived by similarity theory correlations in ESDU models. However, the ratio of the turbulence length scales in the lateral and vertical directions to the longitudinal length scales is relatively independent of surface roughness, showing consistent inner-scaling between the two sites and the ESDU correlations. Further, the diurnal variation of wind velocity due to changes in atmospheric stability conditions has a significant effect on the turbulence structure of the energy-containing eddies in the lower ASL.

Keywords: aerodynamic roughness length, atmospheric surface layer, similarity theory, turbulence length scales

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Authors: H. M. Liman, Y. M. Suleiman A. A. David

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Poor air quality often considered one of the greatest environmental threats facing the world today is caused majorly by the emission of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. The principal air pollutant is carbon monoxide. One prominent source of carbon monoxide emission is the transportation sector. Not much was known about the emission levels of carbon monoxide, the primary pollutant from the road transportation in the study area. Therefore, this study assessed the levels of carbon monoxide emission from road transportation in the Minna, Niger State. The database shows the carbon monoxide data collected. MSA Altair gas alert detector was used to take the carbon monoxide emission readings in Parts per Million for the peak and off-peak periods of vehicular movement at the road intersections. Their Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates were recorded in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). Bar chart graphs were plotted by using the emissions level of carbon dioxide as recorded on the field against the scientifically established internationally accepted safe limit of 8.7 Parts per Million of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. Further statistical analysis was also carried out on the data recorded from the field using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and Microsoft excel to show the variance of the emission levels of each of the parameters in the study area. The results established that emissions’ level of atmospheric carbon monoxide from the road transportation in the study area exceeded the internationally accepted safe limits of 8.7 parts per million. In addition, the variations in the average emission levels of CO between the four parameters showed that morning peak is having the highest average emission level of 24.5PPM followed by evening peak with 22.84PPM while morning off peak is having 15.33 and the least is evening off peak 12.94PPM. Based on these results, recommendations made for poor air quality mitigation via carbon monoxide emissions reduction from transportation include Introduction of the urban mass transit would definitely reduce the number of traffic on the roads, hence the emissions from several vehicles that would have been on the road. This would also be a cheaper means of transportation for the masses and Encouraging the use of vehicles using alternative sources of energy like solar, electric and biofuel will also result in less emission levels as the these alternative energy sources other than fossil fuel originated diesel and petrol vehicles do not emit especially carbon monoxide.

Keywords: carbon monoxide, climate change emissions, road transportation, vehicular

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Authors: F. Ahwide, Y. Bouker, K. Hatem

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This paper presents long term wind data analysis in terms of annual and diurnal variations at different areas of Libya. The data of the wind speed and direction are taken each ten minutes for a period, at least two years, are used in the analysis. ‘WindPRO’ software and Excel workbook were used for the wind statistics and energy calculations. As for Derna, average speeds are 10 m, 20 m, and 40 m, and respectively 6.57 m/s, 7.18 m/s, and 8.09 m/s. Highest wind speeds are observed at SSW, followed by S, WNW and NW sectors. Lowest wind speeds are observed between N and E sectors. Most frequent wind directions are NW and NNW. Hence, wind turbines can be installed against these directions. The most powerful sector is NW (29.4 % of total expected wind energy), followed by 19.9 % SSW, 11.9% NNW, 8.6% WNW and 8.2% S. Furthermore in Al-Maqrun: the most powerful sector is W (26.8 % of total expected wind energy), followed by 12.3 % WSW and 9.5% WNW. While in Goterria: the most powerful sector is S (14.8 % of total expected wind energy), followed by SSE, SE, and WSW. And Misalatha: the most powerful sector is S, by far represents 28.5% of the expected power, followed by SSE and SE. As for Tarhuna, it is by far SSE and SE, representing each one two times the expected energy of the third powerful sector (NW). In Al-Asaaba: it is SSE by far represents 50% of the expected power, followed by S. It can to be noted that the high frequency of the south direction winds, that come from the desert could cause a high frequency of dust episodes. This fact then, should be taken into account in order to take appropriate measures to prevent wind turbine deterioration. In Excel workbook, an estimation of annual energy yield at position of Derna, Al-Maqrun, Tarhuna, and Al-Asaaba meteorological mast has been done, considering a generic wind turbine of 1.65 MW. (mtORRES, TWT 82-1.65MW) in position of meteorological mast. Three other turbines have been tested. At 80 m, the estimation of energy yield for Derna, Al-Maqrun, Tarhuna, and Asaaba is 6.78 GWh or 3390 equivalent hours, 5.80 GWh or 2900 equivalent hours, 4.91 GWh or 2454 equivalent hours and 5.08 GWh or 2541 equivalent hours respectively. It seems a fair value in the context of a possible development of a wind energy project in the areas, considering a value of 2400 equivalent hours as an approximate limit to consider a wind warm economically profitable. Furthermore, an estimation of annual energy yield at positions of Misalatha, Azizyah and Goterria meteorological mast has been done, considering a generic wind turbine of 2 MW. We found that, at 80 m, the estimation of energy yield is 3.12 GWh or 1557 equivalent hours, 4.47 GWh or 2235 equivalent hours and 4.07GWh or 2033 respectively . It seems a very poor value in the context of possible development of a wind energy project in the areas, considering a value of 2400 equivalent hours as an approximate limit to consider a wind warm economically profitable. Anyway, more data and a detailed wind farm study would be necessary to draw conclusions.

Keywords: wind turbines, wind data, energy yield, micrositting

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Tingting Song

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Wetlands are significant ecosystems that provide a variety of ecosystem services for humans, such as, providing water and food resources, purifying water quality, regulating climate, protecting biodiversity, and providing cultural, recreational, and educational resources. Wetlands also provide benefits, such as reduction of flood, storm damage, and soil erosion. The flood protection ecosystem services of wetlands are often ignored. Due to climate change, the flood caused by extreme weather in recent years occur frequently. Flood has a great impact on people's production and life with more and more economic losses. This study area is in the Tone river basin in the Kanto area, Japan. It is the second-longest river with the largest basin area in Japan, and it is still suffering heavy economic losses from floods. Tone river basin is one of the rivers that provide water for Tokyo and has an important impact on economic activities in Japan. The purpose of this study was to investigate land-use changes of wetlands in the Tone River Basin, and whether there are spatial differences in the value of wetland functions in mitigating economic losses caused by floods. This study analyzed the land-use change of wetland in Tone River, based on the Landsat data from 1980 to 2020. Combined with flood economic loss, wetland area, GDP, population density, and other social-economic data, a geospatial weighted regression model was constructed to analyze the spatial difference of wetland ecosystem service value. Now, flood protection mainly relies on such a hard project of dam and reservoir, but excessive dependence on hard engineering will cause the government huge financial pressure and have a big impact on the ecological environment. However, natural wetlands can also play a role in flood management, at the same time they can also provide diverse ecosystem services. Moreover, the construction and maintenance cost of natural wetlands is lower than that of hard engineering. Although it is not easy to say which is more effective in terms of flood management. When the marginal value of a wetland is greater than the economic loss caused by flood per unit area, it may be considered to rely on the flood storage capacity of the wetland to reduce the impact of the flood. It can promote the sustainable development of wetlands ecosystem. On the other hand, spatial analysis of wetland values can provide a more effective strategy for flood management in the Tone river basin.

Keywords: wetland, geospatial weighted regression, ecosystem services, environment valuation

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Mohsen Nouraei, Maryam Amouei

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Islamic studies are considered in both the Quran and Hadith. Hadith is defined as a set of reports that narrated the words and behaviors of infallible persons such as the holy Prophet (pbuh) or the Infallible Imams (as). The issue of biodiversity which is the one of the most important environmental aspects is considered in the field of Hadith. The present paper has investigated biodiversity on the basis of descriptive-analytical methods and with the approach of library-documentary. The household of the Prophet (as) have referred biodiversity that were included diversity of animals, plants, climate etc. In addition, they also have emphasized on the human need to keep diversity and no damage. It should be noted that they have expressed the rights of the animals and plants for correct using of human, so that human can use these rights in conservation of diversity and their generation.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation of biodiversity, degradation of biodiversity, extinction of biodiversity

Procedia PDF Downloads 450

Authors: Pushplata Garg

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Mobility, is an integral part of living and sustainability of urban mobility, is essential not only for, but also for addressing global warming and climate change. However, very little is understood about the obstacles/hurdles and likely challenges in the success of plans for sustainable urban mobility in Indian cities from the public perspective. Whereas some of the problems and issues are common to all cities, others vary considerably with financial status, function, the size of cities and culture of a place. Problems and issues similar in all cities relate to availability, efficiency and safety of public transport, last mile connectivity, universal accessibility, and essential planning and design requirements of pedestrians and cyclists are same. However, certain aspects like the type of means of public transportation, priority for cycling and walking, type of roadside activities, are influenced by the size of the town, average educational and income level of public, financial status of the local authorities, and culture of a place. The extent of public awareness, civic sense, maintenance of public spaces and law enforcement vary significantly from large metropolitan cities to small and medium towns in countries like India. Besides, design requirements for shading, location of public open spaces and sitting areas, street furniture, landscaping also vary depending on the climate of the place. Last mile connectivity plays a major role in success/ effectiveness of public transport system in a city. In addition to the provision of pedestrian footpaths connecting important destinations, sitting spaces and necessary amenities/facilities along footpaths; pedestrian movement to public transit stations is encouraged by the presence of quality roadside public spaces. It is not only the visual attractiveness of streetscape or landscape or the public open spaces along pedestrian movement channels but the activities along that make a street vibrant and attractive. These along with adequate spaces to rest and relax encourage people to walk as is observed in cities with successful public transportation systems. The paper discusses problems and issues of pedestrians for last mile connectivity in the context of Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, and Roorkee- four Indian cities representing varying urban contexts, that is, of metropolitan, large and small cities.

Keywords: pedestrianisation, roadside public spaces, last mile connectivity, sustainable urban mobility

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Fatemeh Jafari Hemmat Abadi

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Through empathy, caring, and nurturing, benevolent leaders can help people with disabilities overcome the stigma of disability and smile at their work environment and work. The main purpose of our research is to examine the performance of people with physical disabilities in virtual teams across geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers around the world. Our results show the relationship between benevolent leadership and the three components of well-being among administrative staff, disability including perceived discrimination, job satisfaction and the need for improvement. The two factors identified for productivity are pervasive team attitudes in the team and proper leadership by the team leader.

Keywords: benevolent leadership, virtual teams, group attitudes pervasive, climate including disability

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Men An Pan, Ho Hsiung Huang, Jui Chuan Lin, Tsui Hsun Wu, Hsing Yuan Yen

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Pingtung County, located in the southernmost region of Taiwan, has the largest number of pig farms in the country. In the past, livestock operators in Dongpian Village discharged their wastewater into the nearby water bodies, causing water pollution in the local rivers and polluting the air with the stench of the pig excrement. These resulted in many complaints from the local residents. In response to a long time fighting back of the community against the livestock farms due to the confrict, the County Government's Environmental Protection Bureau (PTEPB) examined potential wayouts in addition to heavy fines to the perpetrators. Through helping the livestock farms to upgrade their pollution prevention equipment, promoting the reuse of biogas residue and slurry from the pig excrement, and environmental education, the confrict was successfully resolved. The properly treated wastewater from the livestock farms has been freely provided to the neighboring farmlands via pipelines and tankers. Thus, extensive cultivation of bananas, papaya, red dragon fruit, Inca nut, and cocoa has resulted in 34% resource utilization of biogas residue as a fertilizer. This has encouraged farmers to reduce chemical fertilizers and use microbial materials like photosynthetic bacteria after banning herbicides while lowering the cost of wastewater treatment in livestock farms and alleviating environmental pollution simultaneously. That is, the livestock farms fully demonstrate the determination to fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Due to the success, Eight farms jointly established a social enterprise - "Dongpian Gemstone Village Co., Ltd." to promote organic farming through a "shared farm." The company appropriates 5% of its total revenue back to the community through caregiving services for the elderly and a fund for young local farmers. The community adopted the Satoyama Initiative in accordance with the Conference of the CBD COP10. Through the positive impact of environmental education, the community seeks to realize the coexistence between society and nature while maintaining and developing socio-economic activities (including agriculture) with respect for nature and building a harmonic relationship between humans and nature. By way of sustainable management of resources and ensuring biodiversity, the community is transforming into a socio-ecological production landscape. Apart from nature conservation and watercourse ecology, preserving local culture is also a key focus of the environmental education. To mitigate the impact of global warming and climate change, the community and the government have worked together to develop a disaster prevention and relief system, strive to establish a low-carbon emitting homeland, and become a model for resilient communities. By the power of environmental education, this community has turned its residents’ hearts and minds into concrete action, fulfilled social responsibility, and moved towards realizing the UN SDGs. Even though it is not the only community to integrate government agencies, research institutions, and NGOs for environmental education, it is a prime example of a low-carbon sustainable community that achieves more than 9 SDGs, including responsible consumption and production, climate change action, and diverse partnerships. The community is also leveraging environmental education to become a net-zero carbon community targeted by COP26.

Keywords: environmental education, biogas residue, biogas slurry, CSR, SDGs, climate change, net-zero carbon emissions

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Yuanyuan Liu, Yuanqing Wang, Di Li

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions mitigation from road construction activities is one of the potential pathways to deal with climate change due to its higher use of materials, machinery energy consumption, and high quantity of vehicle and equipment fuels for transportation and on-site construction activities. Aiming to assess the environmental impact of the road infrastructure construction activities and to identify hotspots of emissions sources, this study developed a life-cycle CO2 emissions assessment framework covering three stages of material production, to-site and on-site transportation under the guidance of the principle of LCA ISO14040. Then streamlined inventory analysis on sub-processes of each stage was conducted based on the budget files from cases of highway projects in China. The calculation results were normalized into functional unit represented as ton per km per lane. Then a comparison between the amount of emissions from each stage, and sub-process was made to identify the major contributor in the whole highway lifecycle. In addition, the calculating results were used to be compared with results in other countries for understanding the level of CO2 emissions associated with Chinese road infrastructure in the world. The results showed that materials production stage produces the most of the CO2 emissions (for more than 80%), and the production of cement and steel accounts for large quantities of carbon emissions. Life cycle CO2 emissions of fuel and electric energy associated with to-site and on-site transportation vehicle and equipment are a minor component of total life cycle CO2 emissions from highway project construction activities. Bridges and tunnels are dominant large carbon contributor compared to the road segments. The life cycle CO2 emissions of road segment in highway project in China are slightly higher than the estimation results of highways in European countries and USA, about 1500 ton per km per lane. In particularly, the life cycle CO2 emissions of road pavement in majority cities all over the world are about 500 ton per km per lane. However, there is obvious difference between the cities when the estimation on life cycle CO2 emissions of highway projects included bridge and tunnel. The findings of the study could offer decision makers a more comprehensive reference to understand the contribution of road infrastructure to climate change, especially understand the contribution from road infrastructure construction activities in China. In addition, the identified hotspots of emissions sources provide the insights of how to reduce road carbon emissions for development of sustainable transportation.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, construction activities, highway, life cycle assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: O. Eso, M. Mohammadi, J. Darkwa, J. Calautit

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Residential buildings are responsible for 22% of the global end-use energy demand and 17% of global CO₂ emissions. Tropical climates particularly present higher latent heat gains, leading to more cooling loads. However, the cooling processes are all based on conventional mechanical air conditioning systems which are energy and carbon intensive technologies. Passive cooling systems have in the past been considered as alternative technologies for minimizing energy consumption in buildings. Nevertheless, replacing mechanical cooling systems with passive ones will require a careful assessment of the passive cooling system heat transfer to determine if suitable to outperform their conventional counterparts. This is because internal heat gains, indoor-outdoor heat transfer, and heat transfer through envelope affects the performance of passive cooling systems. While many studies have investigated sensible heat transfer in passive cooling systems, not many studies have focused on their latent heat transfer capabilities. Furthermore, combining heat prevention, heat modulation and heat dissipation to passively cool indoor spaces in the tropical climates is critical to achieve thermal comfort. Since passive cooling systems use only one of these three approaches at a time, integrating more than one passive cooling system for effective indoor latent heat removal while still saving energy is studied. This study is a systematic review of recently published peer review journals on integrated passive cooling systems for tropical residential buildings. The missing links in the experimental and numerical studies with regards to latent heat reduction interventions are presented. Energy simulation studies of integrated passive cooling systems in tropical residential buildings are also discussed. The review has shown that comfortable indoor environment is attainable when two or more passive cooling systems are integrated in tropical residential buildings. Improvement occurs in the heat transfer rate and cooling performance of the passive cooling systems when thermal energy storage systems like phase change materials are included. Integrating passive cooling systems in tropical residential buildings can reduce energy consumption by 6-87% while achieving up to 17.55% reduction in indoor heat flux. The review has highlighted a lack of numerical studies regarding passive cooling system performance in tropical savannah climates. In addition, detailed studies are required to establish suitable latent heat transfer rate in passive cooling ventilation devices under this climate category. This should be considered in subsequent studies. The conclusions and outcomes of this study will help researchers understand the overall energy performance of integrated passive cooling systems in tropical climates and help them identify and design suitable climate specific options for residential buildings.

Keywords: energy savings, latent heat, passive cooling systems, residential buildings, tropical residential buildings

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Mahsa Karimpour, Martin Belusko, Ke Xing, Frank Bruno

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Traditionally the embodied energy of design choices which reduce operational energy were assumed to have a negligible impact on the life cycle energy of buildings. However with new buildings having considerably lower operational energy, the significance of embodied energy increases. A life cycle assessment of a population of house designs was conducted in a mild and mixed climate zone. It was determined not only that embodied energy dominates life cycle energy, but that the impact on embodied of design choices was of equal significance to the impact on operational energy.

Keywords: building life cycle energy, embodied energy, energy design measures, low energy buildings

Procedia PDF Downloads 771

Authors: Krisala Joshi, Sayanta Ghosh, Renu Lata, Jagdish C. Kuniyal

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Throughout the world, monitoring and estimating the changing pattern of forests across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment with the changing climate. Forest change detection using satellite imageries has emerged as an important means to gather information on a regional scale. Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India is situated in a transitional zone between the lesser and the greater Himalayas. Thus, it presents a typical rugged mountainous terrain with moderate to high altitude which varies from 1200 meters to over 6000 meters. Due to changes in agricultural cropping patterns, urbanization, industrialization, hydropower generation, climate change, tourism, and anthropogenic forest fire, it has undergone a tremendous transformation in forest cover in the past three decades. The loss and degradation of forest cover results in soil erosion, loss of biodiversity including damage to wildlife habitats, and degradation of watershed areas, and deterioration of the overall quality of nature and life. The supervised classification of LANDSAT satellite data was performed to assess the changes in forest cover in Kullu valley over the years 2000 to 2020. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) was calculated to discriminate between burned and unburned areas of the forest. Our study reveals that in Kullu valley, the increasing number of forest fire incidents specifically, those due to anthropogenic activities has been on a rise, each subsequent year. The main objective of the present study is, therefore, to estimate the change in the forest cover of Kullu valley and to address the various social aspects responsible for the anthropogenic forest fires. Also, to assess its impact on the significant changes in the regional climatic factors, specifically, temperature, humidity, and precipitation over three decades, with the help of satellite imageries and ground data. The main outcome of the paper, we believe, will be helpful for the administration for making a quantitative assessment of the forest cover area changes due to anthropogenic activities and devising long-term measures for creating awareness among the local people of the area.

Keywords: Anthropogenic Activities, Forest Change Detection, Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Supervised Classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Titilope F. Onaolapo, Christiana A. Breed, Maya Pasgaard, Kristine E. Jensen, Peta Brom

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In the face of fast-growing urbanization in most of the world's developing countries, there is a need to understand and address the risk and consequences involved in the indiscriminate use of urban green space. Tshwane city in South Africa has the potential to become one of the world's top biodiversity cities as South Africa is ranked one of the mega countries in biodiversity conservation, and Tshwane metropolitan municipality is the city with the wealthiest biodiversity with grassland biomes. In this study, we focus on the potentials and challenges of urban green transitioning from the Global South perspective with Tshwane city as the case study. We also address the issue of management conflicts that have resulted in informal and illegal activities in and around green spaces, with consequences such as land degradation, loss of livelihoods and biodiversity, and socio-ecological imbalances. A desk study review of eight policy frameworks related to green urban planning and development was done based on four GI principles: multifunctionality, connectivity, interdisciplinary and social inclusion. We interviewed 15 key informants in related departments in the city and administered 200 survey questionnaires among residents. We also had several workshops the other researchers and experts on biodiversity and ecosystem. We found out there is no specific document dedicated to green space management, and where green infrastructure was mentioned, it was focused on as an approach to climate mitigation and adaptation. Also, residents perceive green and open spaces as extra land that could be developed at will. We demonstrated the use of collaborative learning approaches in ecological and development research and the tying research to the existing frameworks, programs, and strategies. Based on this understanding. We outlined the need to incorporate principles of green infrastructure in policy frameworks on spatial planning and environmental development. Furthermore, we develop a model for co-management of green infrastructures by stakeholders, such as residents, developers, policymakers, and decision-makers, to maximize benefits. Our collaborative, interdisciplinary projects pursue SDG multifunctionality of goals 11 and 15 by simultaneously addressing issues around Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life on Land, and Strong Institutions, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity.

Keywords: governance, green infrastructure, South Africa, sustainable development, urban planning, Tshwane

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Sawsan Domi

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Khartoum is considering as one of the hottest cities all over the world, the mean monthly outdoor temperature remains above 30 ºC. Solar Radiation on Building Surfaces considered within the world highest values. Buildings in Khartoum is receiving huge amounts of watts/m2. Northern, eastern and western facades always receive a greater amount than the south ones. Therefore, these facades of the building must be better protected than the others. One of the most important design limits affecting indoor thermal comfort and energy conservation are building envelope design, self-efficiency in building materials and optical and thermo-physical properties of the building envelope. A small sun-facing glazing area is very important to provide thermal comfort in hot dry climates because of the intensive sunshine. This study aims to propose a work plan to help minimize the negative environmental effect of the climate on buildings taking the intensive use of glazing. In the last 15 years, there was a rapid growth in building sector in Khartoum followed by many of wrong strategies getting away of being environmental friendly. The intensive use of glazing on facades increased to commercial, industrial and design aspects, while the glass envelope led to quick increase in temperature by the reflection affects the sun on faces, cars and bodies. Logically, being transparent by using glass give a sense of open spaces, allowing natural lighting and sometimes natural ventilation keeping dust and insects away. In the other hand, it costs more and give more overheated. And this is unsuitable for a hot dry climate city like Khartoum. Many huge projects permitted every year from the Ministry of Planning in Khartoum state, with a design based on the intensive use of glazing on facades. There are no Laws or Regulations to control using materials in construction, the last building code -building code 2008- Khartoum state- only focused in using sustainable materials with no consider to any environmental aspects. Results of the study will help increase the awareness for architects, engineers and public about this environmentally problem. Objectives vary between Improve energy performance in buildings and Provide high levels of thermal comfort in the inner environment. As a future project, what are the changes that can happen in building permits codes and regulations. There could be recommendations for the governmental sector such as Obliging the responsible authorities to version environmental friendly laws in building construction fields and Support Renewable energy sector in buildings.

Keywords: building envelope, building regulations, glazed facades, solar radiation

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Chettou Souhaila, Soufi Omar, Roumia Mohammed Ammar

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Protecting the environment is to preserve the survival and future of humanity. Indeed, the environment is our source of food and drinking water, the air is our source of oxygen, the climate allows our survival and biodiversity are a potential drug reservoir. Preserving the environment is, therefore, a matter of survival. The objective of this project is to familiarize the general public with environmental problems not only with the theme of environmental protection, but also with the concept of biodiversity in different ecosystems. For it, the aim of our project was to create the Ecorium which is a place that preserves many species of plants of different ecosystems, schools, malls, buildings, offices, ecological transports, gardens, and many familial activities that participated in the ecosystems development, strategic biodiversity and sustainable development.

Keywords: ecological system, ecorium, environment, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Jiahao Cui

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In the past centuries, due to climate change and intense whaling, the global whale population has dramatically declined. Among the various whale species, the fin whale experienced the most drastic drop in number due to its popularity in whaling. Under this background, identifying fin whale calls could be immensely beneficial to the preservation of the species. This paper uses feature extraction to process the input audio signal, then a network based on AlexNet and three networks based on the ResNet model was constructed to classify fin whale calls. A mixture of the DOSITS database and the Watkins database was used during training. The results demonstrate that a modified ResNet network has the best performance considering precision and network complexity.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, ResNet, AlexNet, fin whale preservation, feature extraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 122