Search results for: north coast road

Authors: Sher Mohammed, Purushottam Lal, Pawan K. Kasera

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The Thar Desert of Rajasthan covers a wide geographical area spreading between 23.3° to 30.12°, North latitude and 69.3◦ to 76◦ Eastern latitudes; having a unique spectrum of arid zone vegetation. This desert is spreading over 12 districts having a rich source of economically important/threatened plant diversity interacting and growing with adverse climatic conditions of the area. Due to variable geological, physiographic, climatic, edaphic and biotic factors, the arid zone medicinal flora exhibit a wide collection of angiosperm families. The herbal diversity of this arid region is medicinally important in household remedies among tribal communities as well as in traditional systems. The on-going increasing disturbances in natural ecosystems are due to climatic and biological, including anthropogenic factors. The unique flora and subsequently dependent faunal diversity of the desert ecosystem is losing its biotic potential. A large number of plants have no future unless immediate steps are taken to arrest the causes, leading to their biological improvement. At present the potential loss in ecological amplitude of various genera and species is making several plant species as red listed plants of arid zone vegetation such as Commmiphora wightii, Tribulus rajasthanensis, Calligonum polygonoides, Ephedra foliata, Leptadenia reticulata, Tecomella undulata, Blepharis sindica, Peganum harmala, Sarcostoma vinimale, etc. Mostly arid zone species are under serious pressure against prevailing ecosystem factors to continuation their life cycles. Genetic, molecular, cytological, biochemical, metabolic, reproductive, germination etc. are the several points where the floral diversity of the arid zone area is facing severe ecological influences. So, there is an urgent need to conserve them. There are several opportunities in the field to carry out remarkable work at particular levels to protect the native plants in their natural habitat instead of only their in vitro multiplication.

Keywords: ecology, evaluation, xerophytes, economically, threatened plants, conservation

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Authors: Samaneh Nazeri, Bagher Mojazi Amiri, Hamid Farahmand

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Production of high quality fish eggs with reasonable hatching rate makes a success in aquaculture industries. It is influenced by the environmental stimulators and inhibitors. Diazinon is a widely-used pesticide in Golestan province (Southern Caspian Sea, North of Iran) which is washed to the aquatic environment (3 mg/L in the river). It is little known about the effect of this pesticide on the embryogenesis of sturgeon fish, the valuable species of the Caspian Sea. Hormonal content of the egg is an important factor to guaranty the successful passes of embryonic stages. In this study, the fate of Persian sturgeon embryo to 24, 48, 72, and 96-hours exposure of diazinon (LC₅₀ dose) was tested. Also, the effect of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) on these embryos was tested concurrently or separately with diazinon LC ₅₀ dose. Fertilized eggs are exposed to T3 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml), T4 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml). Six eggs were randomly selected from each treatment (with three replicates) in five developmental stages (two cell- division, neural, heart present, heart beaten, and hatched larvae). The possibility of changing T3, T4, and cortisol contents of the embryos were determined in all treated groups and in every mentioned embryonic stage. The hatching rate in treated groups was assayed at the end of the embryogenesis to clarify the effect of thyroid hormones and diazinon. The results indicated significant differences in thyroid hormone contents, but no significant differences were recognized in cortisol levels at various early life stages of embryos. There was also significant difference in thyroid hormones in (T3, T4) + diazinon treated embryos (P˂0.05), while no significant difference between control and treatments in cortisol levels was observed. The highest hatching rate was recorded in HT3 treatment, while the lowest hatching rate was recorded for diazinon LC₅₀ treatment. The result confirmed that Persian sturgeon embryo is less sensitive to diazinon compared to teleost embryos, and thyroid hormones may increase hatching rate even in the presence of diazinon.

Keywords: Persian sturgeon, diazinon, thyroid hormones, cortisol, embryo

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Authors: Pinel Sebastien, Bourrin François, De Madron Du Rieu Xavier, Ludwig Wolfgang, Arnau Pedro

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Heavy precipitation constitutes a major meteorological threat in the western Mediterranean. Research has investigated the relationship between the states of the Mediterranean Sea and the atmosphere with the precipitation for short temporal windows. However, at a larger temporal scale, the precursor signals of heavy rainfall in the sea and atmosphere have drawn little attention. Moreover, despite ongoing improvements in numerical weather prediction, the medium-term forecasting of rainfall events remains a difficult task. Here, we aim to investigate the influence of early-spring environmental parameters on the following autumnal heavy precipitations. Hence, we develop a machine learning model to predict extreme autumnal rainfall with a 6-month lead time over the Spanish Catalan coastal area, based on i) the sea pattern (main current-LPC and Sea Surface Temperature-SST) at the mesoscale scale, ii) 4 European weather teleconnection patterns (NAO, WeMo, SCAND, MO) at synoptic scale, and iii) the hydrological regime of the main local river (Rhône River). The accuracy of the developed model classifier is evaluated via statistical analysis based on classification accuracy, logarithmic and confusion matrix by comparing with rainfall estimates from rain gauges and satellite observations (CHIRPS-2.0). Sensitivity tests are carried out by changing the model configuration, such as sea SST, sea LPC, river regime, and synoptic atmosphere configuration. The sensitivity analysis suggests a negligible influence from the hydrological regime, unlike SST, LPC, and specific teleconnection weather patterns. At last, this study illustrates how public datasets can be integrated into a machine learning model for heavy rainfall prediction and can interest local policies for management purposes.

Keywords: extreme hazards, sensitivity analysis, heavy rainfall, machine learning, sea-atmosphere modeling, precipitation forecasting

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Authors: Islam Abouelhamd

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Rives have long been recognized as one of the most important natural resources, They are important to ensure human health, civilization, and sustainable development, and the importance of rivers as the focal point of cities was established from the early times of civilization and will remain so. Urban design of Riverfront has been an issue of wide concern and extensive discussion since the 1970s, however, Cities seek a riverfront that is a place of public enjoyment, They want a Riverfront where there is ample visual and physical public access to both the water and the land, they want a place that contributes to the quality of life in all of its aspects; economic, social, and cultural, on another hand, Successful urban design of Riverfront requires an understanding of development processes, dimensions of urban design and an appreciation of the distinctiveness of Riverfront locations. A close association between cities and river is inherently over the history of civilization, and in fact, many urban cities in Egypt are located close to Nile River areas. Always trying to use the land closer to the river to take advantage of the benefits it provides, And in spite of the significant role played by the littoral fronts in the life of the city, the riverfronts have remained generally in Egypt and especially in Asyut city neglected. According to the knowledge gained from the literature review, review of case studies and the historical researches of Asyut Riverfront, this research aims to identify the urban transformations of Asyut riverfront and expect the Opportunities and Challenges which will play an important part of the future urban design issues and researches will prepare, especially in the case study area (northern areas of Asyut riverfront). After that, the case study data, historical framework and International experiences were collected and analyzed to Produce Primary indicators of the expectations of the riverfront urban design process inside the case study area, In addition to preparing the conclusions of the theoretical framework and recommendations for the paper.

Keywords: civilization, sustainable development, riverfront, urban transformations

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Authors: Christina Peristeri, Tobias Berg, Domenico Caridi, Paul Hutcheson, Robert Winstanley

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In recent years the demand for rapid innovations in the automotive industry has led to the need for accelerated simulation procedures while retaining a detailed representation of the simulated phenomena. The project’s aim is to create a fast transient workflow for external aerodynamic CFD simulations of road vehicles. The geometry used was the SAE Notchback Closed Cooling DrivAer model, and the simulation results were compared with data from wind tunnel tests. The meshes generated for this study were of two types. One was a mix of polyhedral cells near the surface and hexahedral cells away from the surface. The other was an octree hex mesh with a rapid method of fitting to the surface. Three different grid refinement levels were used for each mesh type, with the biggest total cell count for the octree mesh being close to 1 billion. A series of steady-state solutions were obtained on three different grid levels using a pseudo-transient coupled solver and a k-omega-based RANS turbulence model. A mesh-independent solution was found in all cases with a medium level of refinement with 200 million cells. Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) was chosen for the transient simulations, which uses a shielding function to explicitly switch between RANS and LES mode. A converged pseudo-transient steady-state solution was used to initialize the transient SBES run that was set up with the SIMPLEC pressure-velocity coupling scheme to reach the fastest solution (on both CPU & GPU solvers). An important part of this project was the use of FLUENT’s Multi-GPU solver. Tesla A100 GPU has been shown to be 8x faster than an Intel 48-core Sky Lake CPU system, leading to significant simulation speed-up compared to the traditional CPU solver. The current study used 4 Tesla A100 GPUs and 192 CPU cores. The combination of rapid octree meshing and GPU computing shows significant promise in reducing time and hardware costs for industrial strength aerodynamic simulations.

Keywords: CFD, DrivAer, LES, Multi-GPU solver, octree mesh, RANS

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Authors: Elena Carcano, Mirzi Betasolo

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This study helps Public Water Bureaus in giving reliable answers to water concession requests. Rapidly increasing water requests can be supported provided that further uses of a river course are not totally compromised, and environmental features are protected as well. Strictly speaking, a water concession can be considered a continuous drawing from the source and causes a mean annual streamflow reduction. Therefore, deciding if a water concession is appropriate or inappropriate seems to be easily solved by comparing the generic demand to the mean annual streamflow value at disposal. Still, the immediate shortcoming for such a comparison is that streamflow data are information available only for few catchments and, most often, limited to specific sites. Subsequently, comparing the generic water demand to mean daily discharge is indeed far from being completely satisfactory since the mean daily streamflow is greater than the water withdrawal for a long period of a year. Consequently, such a comparison appears to be of little significance in order to preserve the quality and the quantity of the river. In order to overcome such a limit, this study aims to complete the information provided by flow duration curves introducing a link between Flow Duration Curves (FDCs) and recession curves and aims to show the chronological sequence of flows with a particular focus on low flow data. The analysis is carried out on 25 catchments located in North-Eastern Italy for which daily data are provided. The results identify groups of catchments as hydrologically homogeneous, having the lower part of the FDCs (corresponding streamflow interval is streamflow Q between 300 and 335, namely: Q(300), Q(335)) smoothly reproduced by a common recession curve. In conclusion, the results are useful to provide more reliable answers to water request, especially for those catchments which show similar hydrological response and can be used for a focused regionalization approach on low flow data. A mathematical link between streamflow duration curves and recession curves is herein provided, thus furnishing streamflow duration curves information upon a temporal sequence of data. In such a way, by introducing assumptions on recession curves, the chronological sequence upon low flow data can also be attributed to FDCs, which are known to lack this information by nature.

Keywords: chronological sequence of discharges, recession curves, streamflow duration curves, water concession

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Authors: Zakieh Rostamzadeh, Zahra Shirmohammadi

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Human cytomegalovirus is a species of the cytomegalovirus family of viruses, which in turn is a member of the viral family known as herpesviridae or herpesviruses. Although they may be found throughout the body, HCMV infections are frequently associated with the salivary glands. HCMV infection is typically unnoticed in healthy people, but can be life-threatening for the immunocompromised such as HIV-infected persons, organ transplant recipients, or newborn infants. After infection, HCMV has an ability to remain latent within the body over long periods. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes infection in immunocompromised, hemophilia patients and those who received blood transfusion frequently. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies in hemophilia patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out in Urmia, North West of Iran. The study population comprised a sample of 50 hemophilic patients born after 1985 and have received blood factors in West Azerbaijan. The exclusion criteria include: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling. All samples were evaluated with the method of ELISA, with a certain kind of kit and by a certain laboratory. Results: Fifty hemophiliacs from 250 patients registered with Urmia Hemophilia Society were enrolled in the study including 43 (86%) male, and 7 (14%) female. The mean age of patients was 10.3 years, range 3 to 25 years. None of patients had risk factors mentioned above. Among our studied population, 34(68%) had hemophilia A, 1 (2%) hemophilia B, 8 (16%) VWF, 3(6%) factor VII deficiency, 1 (2%) factor V deficiency, 1 (2%) factor X deficiency, 1 (2%). Sera of 50 Hemodialysis patients were investigated for CMV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM. % 91.89 patients were anti-CMV IgG positive and %40.54 was seropositive for anti-CMV IgM. 37.8% patient had serological evidence of reactivation and 2.7% of patients had the primary infection. Discussion: There was no relationship between the antibody titer and: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling.

Keywords: bioinformatics, biomedicine, cytomegalovirus, immunocompromise

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Authors: Fawad Hussain, Saleh Abdullah Saleh, Mohammad Basir B Saud, Mohd Azwardi Md. Isa

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It is very important for a developing nation to develop their infrastursture on the prime priority because their infrastursture particularly their roads and transporation functions as a blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170 million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically within bus industry have good interconnectivity within and between the urban and rural areas as well as connectivity between the two countries, which is dramatically helping the economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic instability, unemployment and poverty rate are among the reasons why both the governments are very committed and seriously taken further action to help boost their economy. They believe that any form of transportation development would play a vital role in the development of land, infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’ development, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses, just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast growing demand. As with the spin of time, both the countries are looking forward for a reasonable, safe and economical long term solutions, which is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper centered on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle income people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority industry for government, which is making the either country's public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is identified as the slow, inappropriate and unfavorable decisions which are not in favor of long term country’s economic development and public welfare as well as interest. The paper also recommends to future market sense public and private transportation, which has failed to meet the public expectations.

Keywords: bus transportation industries, transportation demand, government parallel initiatives, road and traffic congestions

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Authors: Markus Remm, Sebastian Dienert

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Vehicle interiors are not only changing in terms of design and functionality but also due to new driving situations in which, for example, autonomous operating modes are possible. Flexible seating positions are changing the requirements for passive safety system behavior and location in the interior of a vehicle. With fully autonomous driving, the driver can, for example, leave the position behind the steering wheel and take a seated position facing backward. Since autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles will share the same road network for the foreseeable future, accidents cannot be avoided, which makes the use of passive safety systems indispensable. With JENOPTIK-VOTAN® A technology, the trend towards flexible predetermined airbag weakening lines is enabled. With the help of laser beams, the predetermined weakening lines are introduced from the backside of the components so that they are absolutely invisible. This machining process is sensor-controlled and guarantees that a small residual wall thickness remains for the best quality and reliability for airbag weakening lines. Due to the wide processing range of the laser, the processing of almost all materials is possible. A CO₂ laser is used for many plastics, natural fiber materials, foams, foils and material composites. A femtosecond laser is used for natural materials and textiles that are very heat-sensitive. This laser type has extremely short laser pulses with very high energy densities. Supported by a high-precision and fast movement of the laser beam by a laser scanner system, the so-called cold ablation is enabled to predetermine weakening lines layer by layer until the desired residual wall thickness remains. In that way, for example, genuine leather can be processed in a material-friendly and process-reliable manner without design implications to the components A-Side. Passive safety in the vehicle is increased through the interaction of modern airbag technology and high-precision laser airbag weakening. The JENOPTIK-VOTAN® A product family has been representing this for more than 25 years and is pointing the way to the future with new and innovative technologies.

Keywords: design freedom, interior material processing, laser technology, passive safety

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Authors: Kruti Jaruriya

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Distribution of arsenic (As) and its compound and related toxicology are serious concerns. This is particularly so since millions worldwide are suffering from toxicity due to drinking of As-contaminated groundwater. The Bengal delta plain, formed by the Ganga– Padma–Meghna–Brahmaputra river basin, covering several districts of West Bengal, India and Bangladesh is considered as the worst As affected alluvial basin. However, some equally affected, if not more, areas are emerging in upper Brahmaputra plains. The present study was carried out to examine As contamination trends in the worst affected part of Assam, India. Arsenic (As) mobilization to the groundwater of Brahmaputra floodplains was investigated in Titabor, Jorhat District, located in the North Eastern part of India. The groundwater and the aquifer geochemistry were characterized. The groundwater is characterized by high dissolved Fe, Mn, and HCO-3 and low concentrations of NO-3 and SO2-4 indicating anoxic conditions prevailing in the groundwater. Fifty groundwater samples collected from shallow and deep tubewells of Titabor, Jorhat district (Assam) were examined. Along with total As, examination of concentration levels of other key parameters, viz., pH, EC, Fe, Mn , Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+, K+, PO43- , HCO-3 , NO3- ,Cl - and SO42- was also carried out. In respect to the permissible guideline of World Health Organization (WHO: As 0.01 ppm, Fe 1.0 ppm, and Mn 0.3 ppm for potable water), the range of As concentration in the groundwater varied from 0.014 to 0.604 mg/L with mean concentration 0.184 mg/L. The present study showed that out of the 50 groundwater samples,100%, 54%, and 42% were found contaminated with higher metal contents (for total As, Fe, and Mn, respectively). The results of hydrogeochemical study revealed that the reductive dissolution of MnOOH and FeOOH represents an important mechanism of arsenic release in the study area along with major cations playing an important role in leaching of As into the groundwater. Arsenic released by oxidation of pyrite, as water levels are drawn down and air enters the aquifer, contributes negligibly to the problem of As pollution. Identification of the mechanism of As release to groundwater helps to provide a framework to guide the placement of new water wells so that they will have acceptable concentrations of As.

Keywords: arsenic, assam, brahmaputra floodplain, groundwater, hydrogeochemistry

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Authors: Mohammed S. Razali, Kamel Khimeche, Dahah Hichem, Ammar Boudjellal, Djamel E. Kaderi, Nourddine Ramdani

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The use of additive manufacturing technologies has revolutionized various aspects of our daily lives. In particular, 3D printing has greatly advanced biomedical applications. While fused filament fabrication (FFF) technologies have made it easy to produce or prototype various medical devices, it is crucial to minimize the risk of contamination. New materials with antibacterial properties, such as those containing compounded silver nanoparticles, have emerged on the market. In a previous study, we prepared a newly sintered seashell filler (SSh) from bio-based seashells found along the Mediterranean coast using a suitable heat treatment process. We then prepared a series of polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene succinate (PBS) biocomposites filled with these SSh particles using a melt mixing technique with a twin-screw extruder to use them as feedstock filaments for 3D printing. The study consisted of two parts: evaluating the antibacterial activity of newly prepared biocomposites made of PLA and PBS reinforced with a sintered seashell in the first part and experimental and modeling analysis of the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of these biocomposites in the second part. In the first part, the bactericidal activity of the biocomposites against three different bacteria, including Gram-negative bacteria such as (E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), as well as Gram-positive bacteria such as (Staphylococcus aureus), was examined. The PLA-based biocomposite containing 20 wt.% of SSh particles exhibited an inhibition zone with radial diameters of 8mm and 6mm against E. coli and Pseudo. Au, respectively, while no bacterial activity was observed against Staphylococcus aureus. In the second part, the focus was on investigating the effect of the sintered seashell filler particles on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of PLA and PBS 3D-printing composite materials. The objective was to understand the impact of the filler particles on the crystallization mechanism of both PLA and PBS during the cooling process of a melt-extruded filament in (FFF) to manage the dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties of the final printed part. We conducted a non-isothermal melt crystallization kinetic study of a series of PLA-SS and PBS-SS composites using differential scanning calorimetry at various cooling rates. We analyzed the obtained kinetic data using different crystallization kinetic models such as modified Avrami, Ozawa, and Mo's methods. Dynamic mode describes the relative crystallinity as a function of temperature; it found that time half crystallinity (t1/2) of neat PLA decreased from 17 min to 7.3 min for PLA+5 SSh and the (t1/2) of virgin PBS was reduced from 3.5 min to 2.8 min for the composite containing 5wt.% of SSh. We found that the coated SS particles with stearic acid acted as nucleating agents and had a nucleation activity, as observed through polarized optical microscopy. Moreover, we evaluated the effective energy barrier of the non-isothermal crystallization process using the Iso conversional methods of Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (F-W-O) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (K-A-S). The study provides significant insights into the crystallization behavior of PLA and PBS biocomposites.

Keywords: avrami model, bio-based reinforcement, dsc, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, isoconversional methods, non-isothermal crystallization kinetics, poly(butylene succinate), poly(lactic acid), antbactirial activity

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Authors: Arditya Nugraha, Herry Gunawan, Agung P. Widodo

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The various possible strategies to find hydrocarbon are explored within a wide ranging of efforts. It started to identify petroleum concept in the basin. The main objectives of this paper are to integrate and develop information, knowledge, and evaluation from Indonesia’s sedimentary basins system in terms of their suitability for exploration activity and estimate the hydrocarbon potential available. The system which compiled data information and knowledge and comprised exploration and production data of all basins in Indonesia called as Basin Professor which stands for Basin Professional and Processor. Basin Professor is a website application using Geography Information System which consists of all information about basin montage, basin summary, petroleum system, stratigraphy, development play, risk factor, exploration history, working area, regional cross section, well correlation, prospect & lead inventory and infrastructure spatial. From 82 identified sedimentary basins, North Sumatra, Central Sumatra, South Sumatera, East Java, Kutai, and Tarakan basins are respectively positioned of the Indonesia’ s mature basin and the most productive basin. The Eastern of Indonesia also have many hydrocarbon potential and discovered several fields in Papua and East Abadi. Basin Professor compiled the well data in all of the basin in Indonesia from mature basin to frontier basin. Well known geological data, subsurface mapping, prospect and lead, resources and established infrastructures are the main factors make these basins have higher suitability beside another potential basin. The hydrocarbon potential resulted from this paper based on the degree of geological data, petroleum, and economic evaluation. Basin Professor has provided by a calculator tool in lead and prospect for estimate the hydrocarbon reserves, recoverable in place and geological risk. Furthermore, the calculator also defines the preliminary economic evaluation such as investment, POT IRR and infrastructures in each basin. From this Basin Professor, petroleum companies are able to estimate that Indonesia has a huge potential of hydrocarbon oil and gas reservoirs and still interesting for hydrocarbon exploration and production activity.

Keywords: basin summary, petroleum system, resources, economic evaluation

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Authors: Ricky A. J. Syngkon, Santi Gopal Maji

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Decent work and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection, eradication of poverty and hunger as well as clean water and sanitation are the rudiments of 2030 agenda of sustainable development goals of the United Nations. On the other hand, spirituality is deeply entwined in the fabric of daily lives that helps in shaping attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of common people and ensuring quality of lives and overall sustainable development through protection of environment and natural resources. Mawlynnong, a small village in North-Eastern part of India, is a vivid example of how spirituality influences the development of sense of community leading to upliftment of the economic conditions of the people. Mawlynnong as a small hamlet has been in existence for a couple of centuries and it was acknowledged as the cleanest village of Asia in 2004 by BBC and National Geographic and subsequently endorsed by UNESCO in 2006. Consequently, it has attracted large number of tourists over the years from India and other parts of the world. This paper tries to explore how spirituality leads to a sense of community and the economic benefits for the people. Further, this paper also tries to find out the answer whether such an informal collective effort is sustainable or not for achieving solidarity economy. The study is based on both primary and secondary data collected from the local people and the State Government records. The findings of the study indicate that over the last one and a half decade the tourist footfall has increased to a great extent in Mawlynnong and this has brought about a paradigm shift in the occupational structure of its inhabitants from plantation to service sector particularly tourism and tourism related activities. As a result, from the economic standpoint, it is observed that life is much better off now as compared to before. But from the socio-cultural standpoint, the study finds a drift in terms of the cohesiveness and community bonding which was the hallmark of this village. This drift puts a question mark about the sustainability of such practices and consequently the development of solidarity economy.

Keywords: spirituality, sense of community, economic welfare, solidarity economy, Mawlynnong village

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Authors: Xiping Wang，Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

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Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

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Authors: Fiston Masudi Tambwe, Lwanga Charles, Arfang Badji, Unzimai Innocent

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The development of maize varieties combining Provitamin A (PVA), high yield, and Striga resistance is an effective and affordable strategy to contribute to food security in sub-Saharan Africa, where maize is a staple food crop. There has been limited research on introgressing PVA genes into Striga-resistant maize genotypes. The objectives of this study were to: i) determine the mode of gene action controlling PVA carotenoid accumulation in Striga-resistant maize, ii) identify Striga-resistant maize hybrids with high PVA content and stable yield, and iii) validate the presence of PVA functional markers in offspring. Six elite, Striga-resistant inbred females were crossed with six high-PVA inbred males in a North Carolina Design II and their offspring were evaluated in four environments, following a 5x8 alpha lattice design with four hybrid checks. Results revealed that both additive and non-additive gene action control carotenoid accumulation in the present study, with a predominance of non-additive gene effects for PVA. Hybrids STR1004xCLHP0352 and STR1004xCLHP0046 - identified as Striga-resistant because they supported fewer Striga plants – were the highest-yielding genotypes with a moderate PVA concentration of 5.48 and 5.77 µg/g, respectively. However, those two hybrids were not stable in terms of yield across all environments. Hybrid STR1007xCLHP0046, however, supported fewer Striga plants, had a yield of 4.52 T/ha, a PVA concentration of 4.52 µg/g, and was also stable. Gel-based marker systems of CrtRB1 and LCYE were used to screen the hybrids and favorable alleles of CrtRB1 primers were detected in 20 hybrids, confirming good levels of PVA carotenoids. Hybrids with favorable alleles of LCYE had the highest concentration of non-PVA carotenoids. These findings will contribute to the development of high-yielding PVA-rich maize varieties in Uganda.

Keywords: gene action, stability, striga resistance, provitamin A markers, beta-carotene hydroxylase 1, CrtRB1, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene epsilon cyclase, LCYE

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Authors: Godiya Pius Atsiya

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One of the most devastating impacts of terrorism on the Nigerian state is the danger it has posed on women, children and other vulnerable groups. The complexity of terrorism in Nigeria, especially in most parts of Northern Nigeria has entrenched unprecedented security challenges such as refugee crisis, kidnapping, food shortages, increase in death tolls, malnutrition, fear, rape and several other psychological factors. Of particular interest in this paper as it relates to terrorism is the high rate of Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs), with women, children and the aged being the most affected. Empirical evidence arising from recent development in Nigeria’s North-East geo-political zone shows that large numbers of refugees fleeing the Boko Haram attacks have doubled. The attendant consequences of this mass exodus of people in the affected areas are that the victims now suffer untold and unwarranted economic hardship. In another dimension, recent findings have it that most powerless women and young teenage girls have been forcefully conscripted into the Islamic extremist groups and used as shields. In some respect, these groups of people have been used as available tools for suicide bombing and other criminal tendencies, the result of which can be detrimental to social cohesion and integration. This work is a theoretical insight into terrorism discourses; hence, the paper relies on existing works of scholars in carrying out the research. The paper argues that the implications of terrorism on women gender have grounding effects on the moral psyche of women who are supposed to be home managers and custodians of morality in society. The burden of terrorism and all it tends to propagate has literally upturned social lives and hence, Nigeria is gradually being plunged into the Hobesian state of nature. As a panacea to resolving this social malaise, the paper submits that government and indeed, all stakeholders in the nation’s democratic project must expedite action to nip this trend in the bud. The paper sums up with conclusion and other alternative policy measures to mitigate the challenges of terrorism in Nigeria.

Keywords: changing democratic state, policy measures, terrorism, women

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Authors: Mohammad Parvaresh, Mahdi Babaee, Bahareh Arghand, Davood Nourmohammadi

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Environmental degradation is caused by social inequalities and the inappropriate use of nature and a factor in the violation of human rights. Indeed, the right to a safe, healthy and ecologically-balanced environment is an independent human right. Therefore, the relationship between human rights and environmental protection is crucial for the study of social justice and sustainable development, and environmental problems are a result of the failure to realize social and economic justice. In this regard, 'article 50 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a general principle have many of the concepts of sustainable development, including: the growth and improvement of human life, the rights of present and future generations, and the integrity of the inner and outer generation, the prohibition of any environmental degradation'. Also, Charter on Citizen’s Rights, which was conveyed by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Rouhani refers to the right to a healthy environment and sustainable development. In this regard in 2013, Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Co. defined a plan called 'Tehran’s Health Line' was includes Western and Eastern part by about 26 kilometers of water transferring pipelines varied 1000 to 2000 mm diameters. This project aims to: (1) Transfer water from the northwest water treatment plant to the southwest areas, which suffer from qualitative and quantitative water, in order to mix with the improper wells’ water; (2) Reducing the water consumption provided by harvesting from wells which results in improving the underground water resources, causing the large settlements and stopping the immigrating slums into the center or north side of the city. All of the financial resources accounted for 53,000,000 US$ which is mobilized by Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Co. to expedite the work. The present study examines the Tehran Health Line plan and the purpose of implementation of this plan to achieve environmental protection, environmental justice and citizenship rights for all people who live in Tehran.

Keywords: environmental justice, international environmental law, erga omnes, charter on citizen's rights, Tehran health line

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Xuan Zhao

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In this study, a web crawler was used to collect POI sample data from 38 districts and counties of Chongqing in 2022, and ArcGIS was combined to coordinate and projection conversion and realize data visualization. Nuclear density analysis and spatial correlation analysis were used to explore the spatial distribution characteristics of elderly care facilities in Chongqing, and K mean cluster analysis was carried out with GeoDa to study the spatial concentration degree of elderly care resources in 38 districts and counties. Finally, the driving force of spatial differentiation of elderly care facilities in various districts and counties of Chongqing is studied by using the method of geographic detector. The results show that: (1) In terms of spatial distribution structure, the distribution of elderly care facilities in Chongqing is unbalanced, showing a distribution pattern of ‘large dispersion and small agglomeration’ and the asymmetric pattern of ‘west dense and east sparse, north dense and south sparse’ is prominent. (2) In terms of the spatial matching between elderly care resources and the elderly population, there is a weak coordination between the input of elderly care resources and the distribution of the elderly population at the county level in Chongqing. (2) In terms of the spatial matching between elderly care resources and the elderly population, there is a weak coordination between the input of elderly care resources and the distribution of the elderly population at the county level in Chongqing. (3) The analysis of the results of the geographical detector shows that the single factor influence is mainly the number of elderly population, public financial revenue and district and county GDP. The high single factor influence is mainly caused by the elderly population, public financial income and district and county GDP. The influence of each influence factor on the spatial distribution of elderly care facilities is not simply superimposed but has a nonlinear enhancement effect or double factor enhancement. It is necessary to strengthen the synergistic effect of two factors and promote the synergistic effect of multiple factors.

Keywords: aging, elderly care facilities, spatial differentiation, geographical detector, driving force analysis, Mountain city

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Authors: Srikanth Pandurangi, Basheer Mohammed, Nezar Al Sayegh

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In order to meet the increasing demand for housing care for Kuwaiti citizens, the government authorities in Kuwait are undertaking a series of projects in the form of new large cities, outside the current urban area. Al Mutlaa City located to the north-west of the Kuwait Metropolitan Area is one such project out of the 15 planned new cities. The city accommodates a wide variety of residential developments, employment opportunities, commercial, recreational, health care and institutional uses. This paper examines the application of comprehensive transportation demand modeling works undertaken in VISUM platform to understand the future intracity and intercity travel distribution patterns in Kuwait. The scope of models developed varied in levels of detail: strategic model update, sub-area models representing future demand of Al Mutlaa City, sub-area models built to estimate the demand in the residential neighborhoods of the city. This paper aims at offering model update framework that facilitates easy integration between sub-area models and strategic national models for unified traffic forecasts. This paper presents the transportation demand modeling results utilized in informing the planning of multi-modal transportation system for Al Mutlaa City. This paper also presents the household survey data collection efforts undertaken using GPS devices (first time in Kuwait) and notebook computer based digital survey forms for interviewing representative sample of citizens and residents. The survey results formed the basis of estimating trip generation rates and trip distribution coefficients used in the strategic base year model calibration and validation process.

Keywords: innovative methods in transportation data collection, integrated public transportation system, traffic forecasts, transportation modeling, travel behavior

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Authors: Sibusiso Buthelezi, Rugira Regis Marie-Modeste, Deliwe Rene Phetlhu

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Introduction: Mother-to-child transmission persists owing to inadequate implementation of prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes, particularly in rural areas. To achieve a target of zero new HIV infection in children born from women living with HIV, the involvement of mothers and caregivers is undeniable. Therefore, there is a need to explore the views of the mothers because of the role they play in their own right when it comes to preventing their children from contracting HIV by consistently adhering to the guidelines of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme. Thus, this study sought to explore and describe the perceptions of mothers on their role in the prevention of HIV to their children exposed to HIV and further explore their perceptions of the childcare received in the healthcare facility. Methods: The study was conducted in November-December 2019 in Ngaka Modiri Molema in North West Province in South Africa. A qualitative exploratory, descriptive research design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select the mothers of children exposed to HIV during the mother`s clinic attendance. Data collection was done through semi-structured individual interviews with mothers of children exposed to HIV. Colaizzi`s method of data analysis was used to analyse data in this study. Results: Seven themes emerged from data analysis, namely: health benefits from coming to the healthcare facility, communication, information needs, attitude of healthcare workers, healthcare administration system, the role of a mother, and disclosure of HIV status. Conclusion: This study revealed systematic gaps that exist in the programme, which hinder the childcare services of children exposed to HIV and socio-economically related hindrances. Mothers’ roles, such as exclusive breastfeeding, taking their own medication, and child follow-up visits, remain inadequate. The study findings show that there is a need to develop a contextual-tailored intervention strategy that would improve the implementation of prevention of mother-to-child transmission in rural areas.

Keywords: children exposed to HIV, mothers’ role to prevent MTCT, mothers’ perceptions on childcare, PMTCT in rural areas

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Authors: Mustapha Ouardouz, Mina Amharref, Abdessamed Bernoussi

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The future energy, for limited energy resources countries, goes through renewable energies (solar, wind etc.). The renewable energies constitute a major component of the energy strategy to cover a substantial part of the growing needs and contribute to environmental protection by replacing fossil fuels. Indeed, sustainable development involves the promotion of renewable energy and the preservation of the environment by the use of clean energy technologies to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and reducing the pressure exerted on the forest cover. So the impact studies, of the energy use on the environment and farm-related risks are necessary. For that, a global approach integrating all the various sectors involved in such project seems to be the best approach. In this paper we present an approach based on the multi criteria analysis and the realization of one pilot to achieve the development of an innovative geo-intelligent environmental platform. An implementation of this platform will collect, process, analyze and manage environmental data in connection with the nature of used energy in the studied region. As an application we consider a region in the north of Morocco characterized by intense agricultural and industrials activities and using diverse renewable energy. The strategic goals of this platform are; the decision support for better governance, improving the responsiveness of public and private companies connected by providing them in real time with reliable data, modeling and simulation possibilities of energy scenarios, the identification of socio-technical solutions to introduce renewable energies and estimate technical and implantable potential by socio-economic analyzes and the assessment of infrastructure for the region and the communities, the preservation and enhancement of natural resources for better citizenship governance through democratization of access to environmental information, the tool will also perform simulations integrating environmental impacts of natural disasters, particularly those linked to climate change. Indeed extreme cases such as floods, droughts and storms will be no longer rare and therefore should be integrated into such projects.

Keywords: renewable energies, decision aided tool, environment, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 441

Authors: Zita Fomukong Andam

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Civil disobedience according to John Rawls (1971) is a public nonviolent and conscientious breach of laws undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in government laws and policies. Thus individuals who engage themselves in such an act are aware and ready to accept the consequences of their actions. Cameroon more precisely the Northwest and the Southwest region which are the English part are considered as one of the societies facing this act of civil disobedience. It has been a tormenting issue in the country affecting its economy and the tourism sector. This is because these regions known as one of the best touristic sites of the country is not more considered as a destination to be visited by tourist because of its insecurities. Many commercial buildings have been burning down, leaving many young Cameroonians jobless. Education has been hindered, and youths are forced to relocate to nearby cities in order to continue their education. This crisis has created a lot of insecurity throughout the regions thus youths now have one common interest to travel abroad either to seek refuge or to continue their education and even search for jobs. The purpose of this research is to assess the issue of civil disobedience, trying to understand why it is affected only by a specific region in a country while the others are doing fine. A deep research discourse was conducted with randomly selected individuals aging between 15 to 40 years living both in the destination and abroad. Survey questionnaires and interviews were carried out as a method to collect data. The results show that this crisis has impacted the local residents psychologically and has injected a lot of fears into tourists and they are no more willing to visit the destination. In addition, it has brought a negative impact on the county’s economy since tourism is considered as the key sector in a country’s economy. On the other hand, the results showed that many local residents have remained jobless, others have lost family members, and the daily routine life has been affected. Understanding these results, the national government and international bodies might be able to propose possible and efficient solutions in order to attain stability and security in this region.

Keywords: civil disobedience, economic impact, local residents, tourist

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Authors: P. Novosad, L. Osuska, M. Tazky, T. Tazky

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Current trends in the building industry are oriented towards the reduction of maintenance costs and the ecological benefits of buildings or building materials. Surface treatment of building materials with photocatalytic active titanium dioxide added into concrete can offer a good solution in this context. Architectural concrete has one disadvantage – dust and fouling keep settling on its surface, diminishing its aesthetic value and increasing maintenance e costs. Concrete surface – silicate material with open porosity – fulfils the conditions of effective photocatalysis, in particular, the self-cleaning properties of surfaces. This modern material is advantageous in particular for direct finishing and architectural concrete applications. If photoactive titanium dioxide is part of the top layers of road concrete on busy roads and the facades of the buildings surrounding these roads, exhaust fumes can be degraded with the aid of sunshine; hence, environmental load will decrease. It is clear that options for removing pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) must be found. Not only do these gases present a health risk, they also cause the degradation of the surfaces of concrete structures. The photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide can in the long term contribute to the enhanced appearance of surface layers and eliminate harmful pollutants dispersed in the air, and facilitate the conversion of pollutants into less toxic forms (e.g., NOx to HNO₃). This paper describes verification of the photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide and presents the results of mechanical and physical tests on samples of architectural lightweight self-compacting concretes (LWSCC). The very essence of the use of LWSCC is their rheological ability to seep into otherwise extremely hard accessible or inaccessible construction areas, or sections thereof where concrete compacting will be a problem, or where vibration is completely excluded. They are also able to create a solid monolithic element with a large variety of shapes; the concrete will at the same meet the requirements of both chemical aggression and the influences of the surrounding environment. Due to their viscosity, LWSCCs are able to imprint the formwork elements into their structure and thus create high quality lightweight architectural concretes.

Keywords: photocatalytic concretes, titanium dioxide, architectural concretes, Lightweight Self-Compacting Concretes (LWSCC)

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Authors: Amani A. Saleh, Maram M. Saudy, Mohamed N. AbouZeid

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Asphalt cement concrete is a very commonly used material in the construction of roads. It has many advantages, such as being easy to use as well as providing high user satisfaction in terms of comfortability and safety on the road. However, there are some problems that come with asphalt cement concrete, such as its high carbon footprint, which makes it environmentally unfriendly. In addition, pavements require frequent maintenance, which could be very costly and uneconomic. The aim of this research is to study the effect of mixing waste-based geopolymers with asphalt binders. Geopolymer mixes were prepared by combining alumino-silicate sources such as fly ash, silica fumes, and metakaolin with alkali activators. The purpose of mixing geopolymers with the asphalt binder is to enhance the rheological and microstructural properties of asphalt. This was done through two phases, where the first phase was developing an optimum mix design of the geopolymer additive itself. The following phase was testing the geopolymer-modified asphalt binder after the addition of the optimum geopolymer mix design to it. The testing of the modified binder is performed according to the Superpave testing procedures, which include the dynamic shear rheometer to measure parameters such as rutting and fatigue cracking, and the rotational viscometer to measure workability. In addition, the microstructural properties of the modified binder is studied using the environmental scanning electron microscopy test (ESEM). In the testing phase, the aim is to observe whether the addition of different geopolymer percentages to the asphalt binder will enhance the properties of the binder and yield desirable results. Furthermore, the tests on the geopolymer-modified binder were carried out at fixed time intervals, therefore, the curing time was the main parameter being tested in this research. It was observed that the addition of geopolymers to asphalt binder has shown an increased performance of asphalt binder with time. It is worth mentioning that carbon emissions are expected to be reduced since geopolymers are environmentally friendly materials that minimize carbon emissions and lead to a more sustainable environment. Additionally, the use of industrial by-products such as fly ash and silica fumes is beneficial in the sense that they are recycled into producing geopolymers instead of being accumulated in landfills and therefore wasting space.

Keywords: geopolymer, rutting, superpave, fatigue cracking, sustainability, waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Aslı Yörük, Mevla Yahya, Banu Tavat

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It is well established that bilinguals outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks. However, the effects of bilingualism on prospective memory (PM), which also requires executive functions, have not been investigated vastly. This study aimed to compare bi and monolingual participants' PM performance in focal and non-focal PM tasks. Considering that bilinguals have greater executive function abilities than monolinguals, we predict that bilinguals’ PM performance would be higher than monolinguals on the non-focal PM task, which requires controlled monitoring processes. To investigate these predictions, we administered the focal and non-focal PM task and measured the PM and ongoing task performance. Forty-eight Turkish-English bilinguals residing in North Macedonia and forty-eight Turkish monolinguals living in Turkey between the ages of 18-30 participated in the study. They were instructed to remember responding to rarely appearing PM cues while engaged in an ongoing task, i.e., spatial working memory task. The focality of the task was manipulated by giving different instructions for PM cues. In the focal PM task, participants were asked to remember to press an enter key whenever a particular target stimulus appeared in the working memory task; in the non-focal PM task, instead of responding to a specific target shape, participants were asked to remember to press the enter key whenever the background color of the working memory trials changes to a specific color (yellow). To analyze data, we performed a 2 × 2 mixed factorial ANOVA with the task (focal versus non-focal) as a within-subject variable and language group (bilinguals versus monolinguals) as a between-subject variable. The results showed no direct evidence for a bilingual advantage in PM. That is, the group’s performance did not differ in PM accuracy and ongoing task accuracy. However, bilinguals were overall faster in the ongoing task, yet this was not specific to PM cue’s focality. Moreover, the results showed a reversed effect of PM cue's focality on the ongoing task performance. That is, both bi and monolinguals showed enhanced performance in the non-focal PM cue task. These findings raise skepticism about the literature's prevalent findings and theoretical explanations. Future studies should investigate possible alternative explanations.

Keywords: bilingualism, executive functions, focality, prospective memory

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Thevaranchany Sivaskaran

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Women entrepreneurs are the key players in the society and their contributions is highly highlighted to enhance economic stability in the country. In Sri Lanka, especially in North and East provinces people badly affected by war. Most of them are widows and women headed families. Due to this changing environment, Educational opportunities, and the support of NGO’s Most of the women have started their business and become entrepreneurs. Even though existing family setup and social setup entrepreneurial women are overburdened and difficult to balance their business and family roles. The research has been conducted on the experiences of women entrepreneurs with the family role support and work-life balance within the small and micro- enterprise sector in Jaffna, Srilanka. This study aims to identify that what extent the role of family support will be the tool to balancing work and life effectively and, secondly, the main challenges they face in achieving work-life balance. This is done by drawing on literatures including those on work-life balance, small-and micro enterprises, and entrepreneurship theories. To find out this objective, the data were collected from 50 entrepreneurs among the members of Jaffna women chamber in each GS division basis (cluster random sampling). A qualitative methodological technique and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for the case study on these entrepreneurs. The results indicate that the majority of entrepreneurs do not enjoy a sense of work-life balance because most of them are women headed family and they need to work hard to generate financial profit for the benefit of family. The motivation for them to work in this way is to provide basic needs. Results confirmed for others that support of husbands is very important. Mostly, emotional support (belief and empowerment) is exposed; however, getting financial contribution seems to be highly appreciated. More responsibilities which spouses were ready to take over regarding the home responsibilities (that is, childcare) should also not be neglected in the system of support to their entrepreneurial wives. Although, more important for all, women with children appreciated other members and spouses help and assistance to a higher extent. Results showed that majority of women who started their own business feel that in the first year of ope-ration the emotional support of family members was more important.

Keywords: family support, work life balance, women entrepreneurs, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: Fani Sakellariadou, Danae Antivachis

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Purpose of this paper is to evaluate the environmental status of a coastal Mediterranean lake, named Koumoundourou, located in the northeastern coast of Elefsis Bay, in the western region of Attiki in Greece, 15 km far from Athens. It is preserved from ancient times having an important archaeological interest. Koumoundourou lake is also considered as a valuable wetland accommodating an abundant flora and fauna, with a variety of bird species including a few world’s threatened ones. Furthermore, it is a heavily modified lake, affected by various anthropogenic pollutant sources which provide industrial, urban and agricultural contaminants. The adjacent oil refineries and the military depot are the major pollution providers furnishing with crude oil spills and leaks. Moreover, the lake accepts a quantity of groundwater leachates from the major landfill of Athens. The environmental status of the lake results from the intensive land uses combined with the permeable lithology of the surrounding area and the existence of karstic springs which discharge calcareous mountains. Sediment samples were collected along the shoreline of the lake using a Van Veen grab stainless steel sampler. They were studied for the determination of the total metal content and the metal fractionation in geochemical phases as well as the characterization of the dissolved organic matter (DOM). These constituents have a significant role in the ecological consideration of the lake. Metals may be responsible for harmful environmental impacts. The metal partitioning offers comprehensive information for the origin, mode of occurrence, biological and physicochemical availability, mobilization and transport of metals. Moreover, DOM has a multifunctional importance interacting with inorganic and organic contaminants leading to biogeochemical and ecological effects. The samples were digested using microwave heating with a suitable laboratory microwave unit. For the total metal content, the samples were treated with a mixture of strong acids. Then, a sequential extraction procedure was applied for the removal of exchangeable, carbonate hosted, reducible, organic/sulphides and residual fractions. Metal content was determined by an ICP-MS (Perkin Elmer, ICP MASS Spectrophotometer NexION 350D). Furthermore, the DOM was removed via a gentle extraction procedure and then it was characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy using a Perkin-Elmer LS 55 luminescence spectrophotometer equipped with the WinLab 4.00.02 software for data processing (Agilent, Cary Eclipse Fluorescence). Mono dimensional emission, excitation, synchronous-scan excitation and total luminescence spectra were recorded for the classification of chromophoric units present in the aqueous extracts. Total metal concentrations were determined and compared with those of the Elefsis gulf sediments. Element partitioning showed the anthropogenic sources and the contaminant bioavailability. All fluorescence spectra, as well as humification indices, were evaluated in detail to find out the nature and origin of DOM. All the results were compared and interpreted to evaluate the environmental quality of Koumoundourou lake and the need for environmental management and protection.

Keywords: anthropogenic contaminant, dissolved organic matter, lake, metal, pollution

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Humphrey Agevi, Harrison Tsingalia, Richard Onwonga, Shem Kuyah

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Most of the world ecosystems have been affected by the effects of climate change. Efforts have been made to mitigate against climate change effects. While most studies have been done in forest ecosystems and pure plant plantations, trees on farms including agroforestry have only received attention recently. Agroforestry systems and tree cover on agricultural lands make an important contribution to climate change mitigation but are not systematically accounted for in the global carbon budgets. This study sought to: (i) determine tree diversity in different agroforestry practices; (ii) determine tree biomass in different agroforestry practices. Study area was determined according to the Land degradation surveillance framework (LSDF). Two study sites were established. At each of the site, a 5km x 10km block was established on a map using Google maps and satellite images. Way points were then uploaded in a GPS helped locate the blocks on the ground. In each of the blocks, Nine (8) sentinel clusters measuring 1km x 1km were randomized. Randomization was done in a common spreadsheet program and later be downloaded to a Global Positioning System (GPS) so that during surveys the researchers were able to navigate to the sampling points. In each of the sentinel cluster, two farm boundaries were randomly identified for convenience and to avoid bias. This led to 16 farms in Kakamega South and 16 farms in Kakamega North totalling to 32 farms in Kakamega Site. Species diversity was determined using Shannon wiener index. Tree biomass was determined using allometric equation. Two agroforestry practices were found; homegarden and hedgerow. Species diversity ranged from 0.25-2.7 with a mean of 1.8 ± 0.10. Species diversity in homegarden ranged from 1-2.7 with a mean of 1.98± 0.14. Hedgerow species diversity ranged from 0.25-2.52 with a mean of 1.74± 0.11. Total Aboveground Biomass (AGB) determined was 13.96±0.37 Mgha-1. Homegarden with the highest abundance of trees had higher above ground biomass (AGB) compared to hedgerow agroforestry. This study is timely as carbon budgets in the agroforestry can be incorporated in the global carbon budgets and improve the accuracy of national reporting of greenhouse gases.

Keywords: agroforestry, allometric equations, biomass, climate change

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Authors: Erika Csanyi, Gyula Sandor

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In the course of the examination, we sought to answer the question of how and to what extent the home range and daily activity of a deer stag relocated from its habitual surroundings changes. We conducted the examination in two hunting areas in Hungary, about 50 km from one another. The control area was in the north of Somogy County, while the sample area was an area of similar features in terms of forest cover, tree stock, agricultural structure, altitude above sea level, climate, etc. in the south of Somogy County. Three middle-aged red deer stags were captured with rocket nets, immobilized and marked with GPS-Plus Collars manufactured by Vectronic Aerospace Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. One captured species was relocated. We monitored deer movements over 24-hour periods at 3 months. In the course of the examination, we analysed the behaviour of the relocated species and those that remained in their original habitat, as well as the temporal evolution of their behaviour. We examined the characteristics of the marked species’ daily activities and the hourly distance they covered. We intended to find out the difference between the behaviour of the species remaining in their original habitat and of those relocated to a more distant, but similar habitat. In summary, based on our findings, it can be established that such enforced relocations to a different habitat (e.g., game relocation) significantly increases the home range of the species in the months following relocation. Home ranges were calculated using the full data set and the minimum convex polygon (MCP) method. Relocation did not increase the nocturnal and diurnal movement activity of the animal in question. Our research found that the home range of the relocated species proved to be significantly higher than that of those species that were not relocated. The results have been presented in tabular form and have also been displayed on a map. Based on the results, it can be established that relocation inherently includes the risk of falling victim to poaching, vehicle collision. It was only in the third month following relocation that the home range of the relocated species subsided to the level of those species that were not relocated. It is advisable to take these observations into consideration in relocating red deer for nature conservation or game management purposes.

Keywords: Cervus elaphus, home range, relocation, red deer stag

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Authors: Mohammad Saber Eslamlou, Manouchehr Tabibian, Mahta Mirmoghtadaei

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The history of urban development and the increasing complexities of urban life have long been intertwined with different natural and man-made disasters. Sometimes, these unpleasant events have destroyed the cities forever. The growth of the urban population and the increase of social and economic resources in the cities increased the importance of developing a holistic approach to dealing with unknown urban disasters. As a result, the interest in resilience has increased in most of the scientific fields, and the urban planning literature has been enriched with the studies of the social, economic, infrastructural, and physical abilities of the cities. In this regard, different conceptual frameworks and patterns have been developed focusing on dimensions of resilience and different kinds of disasters. As the most frequent and likely natural disaster in Iran is flooding, the present study aims to develop a cause-effect model of urban resilience against flood in Karaj City. In this theoretical study, desk research and documentary studies were used to find the elements and dimensions of urban resilience. In this regard, 6 dimensions and 32 elements were found for urban resilience and a questionnaire was made by considering the requirements of TOPSIS techniques (pairwise comparison). The sample of the research consisted of 10 participants who were faculty members, academicians, board members of research centers, managers of the Ministry of Road and Urban Development, board members of New Towns Development Company, experts, and practitioners of consulting companies who had scientific and research backgrounds. The gathered data in this survey were analyzed using TOPSIS and Shannon Entropy techniques. The results show that Infrastructure/Physical, Social, Organizational/ Institutional, Structural/Physical, Economic, and Environmental dimensions are the most effective factors in urban resilience against floods in Karaj, respectively. Finally, a comprehensive model and a systematic framework of factors that affect the urban resilience of Karaj against floods was developed. This cause – effect model shows how different factors are related and influence each other, based on their connected structure and preferences.

Keywords: urban resilience, TOPSIS, Shannon entropy, cause-effect model of resilience, flood

Procedia PDF Downloads 41