Search results for: harsh winter climate

Authors: Håkon Riiber

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This paper explores the extent to which Russian ‘Active Measures’ play a role in contemporary Russian foreign policy and in what way the legacy of the Soviet Union is still apparent in these practices. The analysis draws on a set of case studies from the 21st century to examine these aspects, showing which ‘Active Measures’ features are old and which are new in the post-Cold War era. The paper highlights that the topic has gained significant academic and political interest in recent years, largely due to the aggressive posture of the Russian Federation on the world stage, exemplified through interventions in Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine and interference in several democratic elections in the West. However, the paper argues that the long-term impact of these measures may have unintended implications for Russia. While Russia is unlikely to stop using Active Measures, increased awareness of the exploitation of weaknesses, institutions, or other targets may lead to greater security measures and an ability to identify and defend against these activities. The paper contends that Soviet-style ‘Active Measures’ from the Cold War era have been modernized and are now utilized to create an advantageous atmosphere for further exploitation to support contemporary Russian foreign policy. It offers three key points to support this argument: the reenergized legacy of the Cold War era, the use of ‘Active Measures’ in a number of cases in the 21st century, and the applicability of AM to the Russian approach to foreign policy. The analysis reveals that while this is not a new Russian phenomenon, it is still oversimplified and inaccurately understood by the West, which may result in a decreased ability to defend against these activities and limit the unwarranted escalation of the ongoing security situation between the West and Russia. The paper concludes that the legacy of Soviet-era Active Measures continues to influence Russian foreign policy, and modern technological advances have only made them more applicable to the current political climate. Overall, this paper sheds light on the important issue of Russian ‘Active Measures’ and the role they play in contemporary Russian foreign policy. It emphasizes the need for increased awareness, understanding, and security measures to defend against these activities and prevent further escalation of the security situation between the West and Russia.

Keywords: Russian espionage, active measures, disinformation, Russian intelligence

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Authors: A. Sathya, C. Manojkumar, D. Visithra

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The South Indian peninsula has rich diversity of both heritage and conventional rice varieties. With the prime focus set on high yield and increased productivity, a number of traditional/heritage rice varieties have dwindled into the forgotten past. At present, in the face of climate change, the hybrids and conventional varieties struggle for sustainable yield. The need of copious irrigation and high nutrient inputs for the hybrids and conventional varieties have cornered the farming and research community to resort to heritage rice varieties for their sturdy survival capability. An ethno-scientific effort has been taken in the Cauvery delta tracts of South India to restore these traditional/heritage rice varieties. A closer field level performance evaluation under organic condition has been undertaken for 10 heritage rice varieties. The morpho-agronomic characterization across vegetative and reproductive stages have revealed a pattern of variation in duration, plant height, number of tillers, productive tillers, etc. The shortest duration was recorded for a variety with the vernacular name of ‘Arubadaam kuruvai’. A traditional rice variety called ‘Maapillai samba’ is claimed to impart instant energy. The supernatant water of the overnight soaked cooked rice of Maapillai samba is a source of instant energy. The physico-chemical analysis of this variety is being explored for its instant nutritional boosting ability. Wide spectrum of nutritional characters including palatability and marketability preferences has also been analyzed for all these 10 heritage rice varieties. A ‘Farmer’s harvest day festival’ was organized, providing opportunity for the ‘Cauvery delta farmers’ to identify the special features and exchange their views on these standing golden ripe paddy varieties directly. The airing of their ethnic knowledge pooled with interesting scientific investigations of these 10 rich heritage rice varieties of South India undertaken will be elaborately discussed enlightening the perspectives on the pathway of resurrection and restoration of this heritage of the past.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, heritage, rice, traditional, varieties

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Authors: Se-Hwa Park, En-Kyung Han, Jae-Young Lim, Hye-Jung Ahn

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Purpose: The objective of this study is to provide basic data for understanding the substance of inpatient life with CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) and developing efficient and effective nursing intervention. Methods: From September 2018 to November, we have interviewed 10 CRPS patients about inpatient experiences. To understand the implication of inpatient life experiences with CRPS and intrinsic structure, we have used the question: 'How about the inpatient experiences with CRPS'. For data analysis, the method suggested by Colaizzi was applied as a phenomenological method. Results: According to the analysis, the study participants' inpatient life process was structured in six categories: (a) breakthrough pain experience (b) the limitation of pain treatment, (c) worsen factors of pain during inpatient period, (d) treat method for pain, (e) positive experience for inpatient period, (f) requirements for medical team, family and people in hospital room. Conclusion: Inpatient with CRPS have experienced the breakthrough pain. They had expected immediate treatment for breakthrough pain, but they experienced severe pain because immediate treatment was not implemented. Pain-worsening factors which patients with CRPS are as follows: personal factors from negative emotions such as insomnia, stress, sensitive character, pain part touch or vibration stimulus on the bed, physical factors from high threshold or rapid speed during fast transfer, conflict with other people, climate factors such as humidity or low temperature, noise, smell, lack of space because of many visitors. Patients actively manage the pain committing into another tasks or diversion. And also, patients passively manage the pain, just suppress, give-up. They think positively about rehabilitation treatment. And they require the understanding and sympathy for other people, and emotional support, immediate intervention for medical team. Based on the results of this study, we suppose the guideline of systematic breakthrough pain management for the relaxation of sudden pain, using notice of informing caution for touch or vibration. And we need to develop non-medicine pain management nursing intervention.

Keywords: breakthrough pain, CRPS, complex regional pain syndrome, inpatient life experiences, phenomenological method

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Authors: Eranga N. Somaratna, Pradeep Dharmadasa

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In the current competitive environment, the factors leading to organization success are not limited to the investment of capital, labor, and raw material, but in the ability of knowledge innovation from all the members of an organization. However, knowledge on its own cannot provide organizations with its promised benefits unless it is shared, as organizations are increasingly experiencing unsuccessful knowledge sharing efforts. In such a backdrop and due to the dearth of research in this area in the South Asian context, the study set forth to develop an understanding of the factors that influence knowledge-sharing behavior within an organizational framework, using widely accepted social psychology theories. The purpose of the article is to discover the determinants of knowledge-sharing intention and actual knowledge sharing behaviors of bank employees in Sri Lanka using an aggregate model. Knowledge sharing intentions are widely discussed in literature through the application of Ajzen’s Theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Theory of Social Capital (SCT) separately. Both the theories are rich to explain knowledge sharing intention of workers with limitations. The study, therefore, combines the TPB with SCT in developing its conceptual model. Data were collected through a self-administrated paper-based questionnaire of 199 bank managers from 6 public and private banks of Sri Lanka and analyzed the suggested research model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The study supported six of the nine hypotheses, where Attitudes toward Knowledge Sharing Behavior, Perceived Behavioral Control, Trust, Anticipated Reciprocal Relationships and Actual Knowledge Sharing Behavior were supported while Organizational Climate, Sense of Self-Worth and Anticipated Extrinsic Rewards were not, in determining knowledge sharing intentions. Furthermore, the study investigated the effect of demographic factors of bankers (age, gender, position, education, and experiences) to the actual knowledge sharing behavior. However, findings should be confirmed using a larger sample, as well as through cross-sectional studies. The results highlight the need for theoreticians to combined TPB and SCT in understanding knowledge workers’ intentions and actual behavior; and for practitioners to focus on the perceptions and needs of the individual knowledge worker and the need to cultivate a culture of sharing knowledge in the organization for their mutual benefit.

Keywords: banks, employees behavior, knowledge management, knowledge sharing

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Authors: Savannah Rugg, Carlo Moreno, Pushpa Soti, Alexis Racelis

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Situated in deep South Texas, the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) is considered one the most productive agricultural regions in the southern US. With the highest concentration of organic farms in the state (Hidalgo county), the LRGV has a strong potential to be leaders in sustainable agriculture. Finding management practices that comply with organic certification and increase the health of the agroecosytem and the farmers working the land is increasingly pertinent. Cover cropping, or the intentional planting of non-cash crop vegetation, can serve multiple functions in an agroecosystem by decreasing environmental pollutants that originate from the agroecosystem, reducing inputs needed for crop production, and potentially decreasing on-farm costs for farmers—overall increasing the sustainability of the farm. Use of cover crops on otherwise fallow lands have shown to enhance ecosystem services such as: attracting native beneficial insects (pollinators), increase nutrient availability in topsoil, prevent nutrient leaching, increase soil organic matter, and reduces soil erosion. In this study, four cover crops (Lablab, Sudan Grass, Sunn Hemp, and Pearl Millet) were analyzed in the subtropical region of south Texas to see how their multiple functions enhance ecosystem services. The four cover crops were assessed to see their potential to harbor native insects, their potential to increase soil nitrogen, to increase soil organic matter, and to suppress weeds. The preliminary results suggest that these subtropical varieties of cover crops have potential to enhance ecosystem services on agricultural land in the RGV by increasing soil organic matter (in all varieties), increasing nitrogen in topsoil (Lablab, Sunn Hemp), and reducing weeds (Sudan Grass).

Keywords: cover crops, ecosystem services, subtropical agriculture, sustainable agriculture

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Authors: Ayhan Varol, Aysenur Ugurlu

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Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and climate change, there is a rising interest in renewable energy sources. In this concept, a wide range of biomass (energy crops, animal manure, solid wastes, etc.) are used for energy production. There has been a growing interest in biomethane production from biomass. Biomethane production from organic wastes is a promising alternative for waste management by providing organic matter stabilization. Anaerobic digestion of organic material produces biogas, and organic substrate is degraded into a more stable material. Therefore, anaerobic digestion technology helps reduction of carbon emissions and produces renewable energy. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR), as well as TS (VS) loadings, influences the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes significantly. The optimum range for HRT varies between 15 days to 30 days, whereas OLR differs between 0.5 to 5 g/L.d depending on the substrate type and its lipid, protein and carbohydrate contents. The organic wastes have biogas production potential through anaerobic digestion. In this study, biomethane production potential of wastes like sugar beet bagasse, agricultural residues, food wastes, olive mill pulp, and dairy manure having different characteristics was investigated in mesophilic CSTR reactor, and their performances were compared. The reactor was mixed in order to provide homogenized content at a rate of 80 rpm. The organic matter content of these wastes was between 85 to 94 % with 61% (olive pulp) to 22 % (food waste) dry matter content. The hydraulic retention time changed between 20-30 days. High biogas productions, 13.45 to 5.70 mL/day, were achieved from the wastes studied when operated at 9 to 10.5% TS loadings where OLR varied between 2.92 and 3.95 gVS/L.day. The results showed that food wastes have higher specific methane production rate and volumetric methane production potential than the other wastes studied, under the similar OLR values. The SBP was 680, 585, 540, 390 and 295 mL/g VS for food waste, agricultural residues, sugar beet bagasse, olive pulp and dairy manure respectively. The methane content of the biogas varied between 72 and 60 %. The volatile solids conversion rate for food waste was 62%.

Keywords: biogas production, organic wastes, biomethane, anaerobic digestion

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Authors: M. Achemo, O. Saito

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Jefoure land use system is one of the traditional landscape human settlement patterns, and it is a cultural design and peculiar art of the people of Gurage in Ethiopia via which houses and trees flank roads left and right. Assessment of the multiple benefits of the traditional road that benefit society and development could enhance the understanding of the land use planners and decision makers to pay attention while planning and managing the land use system. Recent trend shows that the Jefoure land use is on the threshold of change as a result of flourishing road networks, overgrazing, and agricultural expansion. This study aimed to evaluate the multiple ecosystem services provided by the Jefoure land use system after characterization of the socio-ecological landscape. Information was compiled from existing data sources such as ordnance survey maps, aerial photographs, recent high resolution satellite imageries, designated questionnaires and interviews, and local authority contacts. The result generated scientific data on the characteristics, ecosystem services provision, and drivers of changes. The cultural landscape has novel characteristics and providing multiple ecosystem services to the community for long period of time. It is serving as road for humans, livestock and vehicles, habitat for plant species, regulating local temperature, climate, runoff and infiltration, and place for meeting, conducting religious and spiritual activities, holding social events such as marriage and mourning, playing station for children and court for football and other traditional games. As a result of its aesthetic quality and scenic beauty, it is considered as recreational place for improving mental and physical health. The study draws relevant land use planning and management solution in the improvement of socio-ecological resilience in the Jefoure land use system. The study suggests the landscape needs to be registrar as heritage site for recognizing the wisdom of the community and enhancing the conservation mechanisms.

Keywords: cultural landscape, ecosystem services, Gurage, Jefoure

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Authors: Mohd Sabere Sulaiman, Masyitah Abd Aziz, Norsiah Hassan, Jamilah Halina Abdul Halim, Mohd Saipul Asrafi Haron

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The use of clay roof tiles was spread out through Asia and Europe, including Malaysia, since the early 17th Century. Most of the common type of clay roof tiles are used in a flat and rectangular shape, measurement, styles, and characteristics through each tradition and interest, including responsive to the climate. Various types of heritage clay roof tiles were used in Malaysia’s Government Buildings dated 1865, 1919, 1936, and so forth, which mostly were imported from India, France, and Italy. Until now, these heritage clay roof tiles are still found throughout Malaysia, including the ‘Interlocking’ clay roof tile type. This study is to investigate and overview the existence of heritage clay roof tiles used in Malaysia; the ‘interlocking’ type with ‘lip’ and ‘hooks’, through literature reviews as desktop study besides carried out a preliminary observation on various sites and interviews. From the literatures, the last production and used of the local heritage clay roof tiles in Malaysia dated in mid 1900s in Batu Arang, Selangor. The brick factory was abandoned since early 2000s. Although the modern ‘Interlocking’ type were produced to duplicate its form, pattern, and size of the original one, they still facing the problem to blend and merged, which end up dismantling the original version, or replacing one to one condition and even replaced overall with the modern materials. This is quite contradicting with the basic principles of building conservation and had become a challenge. Initial findings from the preliminary observation on site in various state in Malaysia shows some evidence that the heritage clay roof tiles are still intact and been used. Some of them might change to modern roof materials such as metal deck, probably due to easy maintenance and cheaper. Also, some are still struggling to maintain and retain its looks and authenticity of the roof while facing the increasing of material cost. Those improper alteration and changes made is due to lack of knowledge among the owner and end user. Various aspect needs to be considered in order to sustain its usage and its original looks by looking at the proper maintenance aspects of the heritage clay roof tiles to prolong the building life for future generation preferences.

Keywords: challenges, clay, interlocking, maintenance

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Authors: Dau Lal Bohra, Sradha Vyas

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Bird species are already showing climate-related changes in the dates they migrate and breed, and in the timing of other key life-history events. Treats of feeding managements raptors have performed important ecological, traditional and aesthetic functions throughout the Indian subcontinent. The declines in India result from elevated adult and juvenile mortality, and low breeding success. The widespread and rapid pattern of declines, i.e. in all areas irrespective of habitat or protection status suggest that persecution through shooting or poisoning, whilst important at a local scale, are unlikely to have caused the declines. A mass killing of several species of vultures in the Indian subcontinent over the last two decades is largely blamed on the presence of a drug. Veterinary diclofenac caused an unprecedented decline in South Asia’s Gyps vulture populations, with some species declining by more than 97% between 1992 and 2007. Veterinary diclofenac causes renal failure in vultures, and killed tens of millions of such birds in the Indian sub-continent. The drug was finally banned there for veterinary purposes in 2006. This drug is now ‘a global problem’ threatening many vulnerable birds of prey. Recently, stappe eagles are also susceptible to veterinary diclofenac, effectively increasing the potential threat level, and the risks for European biodiversity. Steppe eagles are closely related with golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetus), imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca) and Spanish imperial eagles (Aquila adalberti), and all these species scavenge opportunistically on carcasses throughout their range. The Spanish imperial eagle, considered Vulnerable at global level, is now particularly at risk, due to the availability of diclofenac in Spain. These findings strengthen the case for banning veterinary diclofenac across. From year 2011 to 2014 more than 300 hundred birds dead in jorbeer, Bikaner. Now, with unequivocal evidence that this veterinary drug can cause a much wider impact on Europe´s biodiversity, it is time for action – please ban diclofenac human brand also in multi-dose vial from market.

Keywords: mortility, prey of birds, diclofenac, Rajasthan

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Authors: Pieter A. Cornelissen, Joris J. Van Hoof

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The interest in improving occupational safety started almost simultaneously with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, it was not until the late 1970’s before the role of communication was considered in scientific research regarding occupational safety. In recent years the importance of communication as a means to improve occupational safety has increased. Not only as communication might have a direct effect on safety performance and safety outcomes, but also as it can be viewed as a major component of other important safety-related elements (e.g., training, safety meetings, leadership). And while safety communication is an increasingly important topic in research, its operationalization is often vague and differs among studies. This is not only problematic when comparing results, but also in applying these results to practice and the work floor. By means of an in-depth analysis—building on an existing dataset—this review aims to overcome these problems. The initial database search yielded 25.527 articles, which was reduced to a research corpus of 176 articles. Focusing on the 37 articles of this corpus that addressed communication (related to safety outcomes and safety performance), the current study will provide a comprehensive overview of the role and effects of safety communication and outlines the conditions under which communication contributes to a safer work environment. The study shows that in literature a distinction is commonly made between safety communication (i.e., the exchange or dissemination of safety-related information) and feedback (i.e. a reactive form of communication). And although there is a consensus among researchers that both communication and feedback positively affect safety performance, there is a debate about the directness of this relationship. Whereas some researchers assume a direct relationship between safety communication and safety performance, others state that this relationship is mediated by safety climate. One of the key findings is that despite the strongly present view that safety communication is a formal and top-down safety management tool, researchers stress the importance of open communication that encourages and allows employees to express their worries, experiences, views, and share information. This raises questions with regard to other directions (e.g., bottom-up, horizontal) and forms of communication (e.g., informal). The current review proposes a framework to overcome the often vague and different operationalizations of safety communication. The proposed framework can be used to characterize safety communication in terms of stakeholders, direction, and characteristics of communication (e.g., medium usage).

Keywords: communication, feedback, occupational safety, review

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Geetanjali Yadav, Arpit Mishra, Parthsarathi Ghosh, Ramkrishna Sen

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The world is facing problems of increasing global CO2 emissions, climate change and fuel crisis. Therefore, several renewable and sustainable energy alternatives should be investigated to replace non-renewable fuels in future. Algae presents itself a versatile feedstock for the production of variety of fuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, bio-hydrogen etc.) and high value compounds for food, fodder, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Microalgae are simple microorganisms that require water, light, CO2 and nutrients for growth by the process of photosynthesis and can grow in extreme environments, utilize waste gas (flue gas) and waste waters. Mixing, however, is a crucial parameter within the culture system for the uniform distribution of light, nutrients and gaseous exchange in addition to preventing settling/sedimentation, creation of dark zones etc. The overarching goal of the present study is to improve photobioreactor (PBR) design for enhancing dissolution of CO2 from ambient air (0.039%, v/v), pure CO2 and coal-fired flue gas (10 ± 2%) into microalgal PBRs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), a state-of-the-art technique has been used to solve partial differential equations with turbulence closure which represents the dynamics of fluid in a photobioreactor. In this paper, the hydrodynamic performance of the PBR has been characterized and compared with that of the conventional bubble column PBR using CFD. Parameters such as flow rate (Q), mean velocity (u), mean turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) were characterized for each experiment that was tested across different aeration schemes. The results showed that the modified PBR design had superior liquid circulation properties and gas-liquid transfer that resulted in creation of uniform environment inside PBR as compared to conventional bubble column PBR. The CFD technique has shown to be promising to successfully design and paves path for a future research in order to develop PBRs which can be commercially available for scale-up microalgal production.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, microalgae, bubble column photbioreactor, flue gas, simulation

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Authors: Abhimanyu Behera

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Over the past few years, energy security and sustainable development have moved rapidly into the global agenda. There are two main reasons: first, the impact of high and often volatile energy prices; second, concerns over environmental sustainability particularly about the global climate. Both issues are critically important in which impressive economic growth has boosted the demand for energy and put corresponding strains on the environment. Energy security is a broad concept that focuses on energy availability and pricing. Specifically, it refers to the ability of the energy supply system i.e. suppliers, transporters, distributors and regulatory, financial and R&D institutions to deliver the amount of competitively priced energy that customers demand, within accepted standards of reliability, timeliness, quality, safety. Traditionally, energy security has been defined in the context of the geopolitical risks to external oil supplies but today it is encompassing all energy forms, all the external and internal links bringing the energy to the final consumer, and all the many ways energy supplies can be disrupted including equipment malfunctions, system design flaws, operator errors, malicious computer activities, deficient market and regulatory frameworks, corporate financial problems, labour actions, severe weather and natural events, aggressive acts (e.g. war, terrorism and sabotage), and geopolitical disruptions. In practice, the most challenging disruptions are those linked to: 1) extreme weather events; 2) mismatched electricity supply and demand; 3) regulatory failures; and 4) concentration of oil and gas resources in certain regions of the world. However, insecure energy supplies inhibit development by raising energy costs and imposing expensive cuts in services when disruptions actually occur. The energy supply sector can best advance sustainable development by producing and delivering secure and environmentally-friendly sources of energy and by increasing the efficiency of energy use. With this objective, this paper seeks to highlight the significance of energy security and sustainable development in today’s world. Moreover, it critically overhauls the major challenges towards sustainability of energy security and what are the major policies are taken to overcome these challenges by Government is lucidly explicated in this paper.

Keywords: energy, policies, security, sustainability

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Authors: Lahcen Daoudi, Soukaina Elidrissi, Nathalie Fagel

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The calcareous accumulations in the surface formations of the soil, are a very widespread phenomenon in the arid and semi-arid regions. Many aspects of physical and chemical evolution of these soils were debated for more than one century. The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable interest in the study of the calcrete. In Morocco, as in most Mediterranean countries, soils with carbonate accumulation cover large areas of the territory. The isohumic subtropical soils and red Mediterranean soils include always a horizon of calcrete accumulation. In the lowland of Tensift Al Haouz located in the central part of Morocco, the arable lands are underlain by indurate pedogenic calcrete of various thicknesses; this constitutes a serious handicap for agricultural development in the region. Our aims in this study is to analyze the characteristics of the crusts developed in this area in order to identify the various facies, their geographic distribution and the factors that played a significant role in the differentiation of these calcareous accumulations. The characterizations were based on various techniques including field observations, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) for both raw materials and clay fractions, SEM analysis, Calcimetry and Loss On Ignition (LOI). The analysis of encrusting calcrete in a rich and varied observation field as the region of Tensift Al Haouz enabled us to specify the important types of accumulations: diffuse, nodular and massive encrusting. The shape of encrusting as well as their consistency and hardness is clearly related to the contents of CaCO3 of the profiles. Among these facies, the hardpan which results from a complex succession of processes is certainly the most morphologically advanced form of encrusting. The vertical and lateral distribution of these forms in the Tensift Al Haouz area indicates that they do not appear randomly but seem related to well defined environmental conditions. The differentiation and evolution of encrusting is under the influence of two major factors: 1) the availability of carbonate rich solution which is controlled by the topography, the nature and texture of underlying host rock and the detrital processes; 2) the climate which is responsible for the evaporation and crystallization of carbonate.

Keywords: soil calcrete, characterization, morphology, Tensift Al Haouz, Morocco

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Authors: M.J. Seddighi, A. Moradchelleh, M. Keyvan

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The ultimate goal in building a city is to provide pleasant, comfortable and nurturing environment as a context of public life. City environment establishes strong connection with people and their surrounding habitant, acting as relevance in social interactions between citizens itself. Urban environment and appropriate municipal facilities are the only way for proper communication between city and citizens and also citizens themselves. There is a need for complement elements between buildings and constructions to settling city life through which the move, comfort, reactions and anxiety will adjust and reflect the spirit to the city. In the surging development of society, urban’ spaces are encountered evolution, sometimes causing the symbols to fade and waste, and as a result, leading to destroy belongs among humans and their physical liquidate. Houses and living spaces exhibit materialistic reflection of life style. In other words, way of life makes the symbolic essence of living spaces. In addition, it is of sociocultural factor of lifestyle, consisting the concepts and culture, morality, worldview, and national character. Culture is responsible for some crucial meaningful needs which can be wide because they depend on various causes such as perception and interpretation of believes, philosophy of life, interaction with neighbors and protection against climate and enemies. The bilateral relationship between human and nature is the main factor that needs to be properly addressed. It is because of the fact that the approach which is taken against landscape and nature has a pertinent influence on creation and shaping the structure of a house. The first response of human in tackling the environment is to build a “shelter” and place as dwelling. This has been a crucial factor in all time periods. In the proposed study, dwelling in Khorasgan’ Stream, as an area located in one of the important historical city of Iran, has been studied. Khorasgan’ Stream is the basic constituent elements of the present architectural form of Isfahan. The influence of Islamic spiritual culture and neighborhood with the historical elements on the dwelling of the selected location, subsequently on other regions of the town are presented.

Keywords: historical architectural elements, dwelling' neighborhood, Khorasgan’ Stream of Isfahan, architecture

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Authors: Samaneh Poormohammadi, Farid Golkar, Vahideh Khatibi Sarabi

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Climate change and consecutive droughts have increased the importance of using rainwater harvesting methods. One of the methods of rainwater harvesting and, in other words, the management of atmospheric water resources is the use of weather modification technologies. Weather modification (also known as weather control) is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. Cloud seeding operations in Iran have been married since 1999 in central Iran with the aim of harvesting rainwater and reducing the effects of drought. In this research, we analyze the results of cloud seeding operations in the Simindashtplain in northern Iran. Rainwater harvesting with the help of cloud seeding technology has been evaluated through its effects on surface water and underground water. For this purpose, two different methods have been used to estimate runoff. The first method is the US Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number method. Another method, known as the reasoning method, has also been used. In order to determine the infiltration rate of underground water, the balance reports of the comprehensive water plan of the country have been used. In this regard, the study areas located in the target area of each province have been extracted by drawing maps of the influence coefficients of each area in the GIS software. It should be mentioned that the infiltration coefficients were taken from the balance sheet reports of the country's comprehensive water plan. Then, based on the area of each study area, the weighted average of the infiltration coefficient of the study areas located in the target area of each province is considered as the infiltration coefficient of that province. Results show that the amount of water extracted from the rain with the help of cloud seeding projects in Simindasht is as follows: an increase in runoff 63.9 million cubic meters (with SCS equation) or 51.2 million cubic meters (with logical equation) and an increase in ground water resources: 40.5 million cubic meters.

Keywords: rainwater harvesting, ground water, atmospheric water resources, weather modification, cloud seeding

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Authors: Mia Françoise

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This report aims to develop a strategy for assisting short-term investors to benefit from the current economic climate in South Africa by utilizing technical analysis techniques and predictive analytics. As part of this research, value investing and technical analysis principles will be combined to maximize returns for South African investors while optimizing volatility. As an emerging market, South Africa offers many opportunities for high growth in sectors where other developed countries cannot grow at the same rate. Investing in South African companies with significant growth potential can be extremely rewarding. Although the risk involved is more significant in countries with less developed markets and infrastructure, there is more room for growth in these countries. According to recent research, the offshore market is expected to outperform the local market over the long term; however, short-term investments in the local market will likely be more profitable, as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is predicted to outperform the S&P500 over the short term. The instabilities in the economy contribute to increased market volatility, which can benefit investors if appropriately utilized. Price prediction and portfolio optimization comprise the two primary components of this methodology. As part of this process, statistics and other predictive modeling techniques will be used to predict the future performance of stocks listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Following predictive data analysis, Modern Portfolio Theory, based on Markowitz's Mean-Variance Theorem, will be applied to optimize the allocation of assets within an investment portfolio. By combining different assets within an investment portfolio, this optimization method produces a portfolio with an optimal ratio of expected risk to expected return. This methodology aims to provide a short-term investment with a stock portfolio that offers the best risk-to-return profile for stocks listed on the JSE by combining price prediction and portfolio optimization.

Keywords: financial stocks, optimized asset allocation, prediction modelling, South Africa

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Authors: Maatouk Khoukhi

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Nowadays the reduction of the energy consumed by buildings to achieve mainly the thermal comfort for the occupants represent the main concern for architects and building designers. The common and traditional solution to achieve this target is the design of a highly insulated envelope and reduce the opening and the transparent elements such windows. However, this will lead to the artificial lighting system to consume more energy to compensate the lack of natural lighting coming through the glazed parts of the building envelope. Therefore, a good balance between sufficient daylight and control thermal heat through the building envelope should be considered for energy saving purpose. To achieve a better indoor environment the windows size and spacing including the interior finishing and the location of the partition must be assessed accurately. Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into space through windows and transparent elements of the building envelope which helps create a visually stimulating and productive environment for building occupants. The main concern is not to provide enough daylight to an occupied space, but how to achieve this without any undesirable side effect. Indeed, the glare is a major problem in glazed façade buildings, and this could be reduced by using tinted windows. The main target of this research is to investigate the daylight adequacy of functional needs in old Omani Forts and how they have been designed and built to avoid glare and overheating with the appropriate window-to-floor ratio. Because more windows do not automatically result in more daylighting but that is natural light has been controlled and distributed properly throughout the space. Spaces from different Omani and Portuguese Forts under the same climate conditions are considered in order to compare the daylight illuminance levels and examine the similarities and differences in visual attributes between them. The result of this study indicates that lighting preference is not universal and people from different geographical locations are adapted to certain illuminance levels. Therefore, the standards could not be generalized for the entire world. This would be useful to practitioners who are designing to effectively address the diversity of user’s lighting levels preferences in our globally connected society.

Keywords: day lighting, energy, forts, thermal comfort

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Authors: Brian Fleischli, Shani Robins

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In recent years, the implementation of wisdom skills, including emotional intelligence, mindfulness, empathy, compassion, gratitude, realism (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), and humility, within K-12 educational settings has demonstrated significant benefits in reducing stress, anxiety, anger, and conflict among students. This study summarizes the findings of research conducted over several years, showcasing the positive outcomes associated with teaching these skills to elementary and high school students. Additionally, this overview includes an updated synthesis of current literature concerning the application and effectiveness of training these skill sets in K-12 schools. The research outcomes highlight substantial improvements in student well-being and behavior. Demonstrated with treatment group students exhibiting notable reductions in anger, anxiety, depression, and disruptive behaviors compared to control groups. For instance, fourth-grade students showed enhanced empathy, responsibility, and attention, particularly benefiting those with lower initial scores on these measures. Specific interaction effects suggest that older students and males particularly benefit from these interventions, showcasing the nuanced impact of wisdom skill training across different demographics. Furthermore, this presentation emphasizes the critical role of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by children and adolescents, including mental health issues, academic performance, and social behaviors. The integration of wisdom skills into school curricula not only fosters individual growth and emotional regulation but also enhances overall school climate and academic achievement. In conclusion, the findings contribute to the growing body of empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of teaching wisdom skills in educational settings. The success of these interventions underscores the potential for widespread implementation of evidence-based programs to promote emotional well-being and academic success among students nationwide.

Keywords: wisdom skills, CBT, cognitive behavioral training, mindfulness, empathy, anxiety

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Authors: V. S. Manivasagam, R. Nagarajan

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Modeling the soil, water and crop growth interactions are attaining major importance, considering the future climate change and water availability for agriculture to meet the growing food demand. Progress in understanding the crop growth response during water stress period through crop modeling approach provides an opportunity for improving and sustaining the future agriculture water use efficiency. An attempt has been made to evaluate the potential use of crop modeling approach for assessing the minimal supplementary irrigation requirement for crop growth during water limited condition and its practical significance in sustainable improvement of crop yield and water productivity. Among the numerous crop models, water driven-AquaCrop model has been chosen for the present study considering the modeling approach and water stress impact on yield simulation. The study has been evaluated in rainfed maize grown area of semi-arid Shanmuganadi watershed (a tributary of the Cauvery river system) located in southern India during the rabi cropping season (October-February). In addition to actual rainfed maize growth simulation, irrigated maize scenarios were simulated for assessing the supplementary irrigation requirement during water shortage condition for the period 2012-2015. The simulation results for rainfed maize have shown that the average maize yield of 0.5-2 t ha-1 was observed during deficit monsoon season (<350 mm) whereas 5.3 t ha-1 was noticed during sufficient monsoonal period (>350 mm). Scenario results for irrigated maize simulation during deficit monsoonal period has revealed that 150-200 mm of supplementary irrigation has ensured the 5.8 t ha-1 of irrigated maize yield. Thus, study results clearly portrayed that minimal application of supplementary irrigation during the critical growth period along with the deficit rainfall has increased the crop water productivity from 1.07 to 2.59 kg m-3 for major soil types. Overall, AquaCrop is found to be very effective for the sustainable irrigation assessment considering the model simplicity and minimal inputs requirement.

Keywords: AquaCrop, crop modeling, rainfed maize, water stress

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Authors: Enes Caliskan, Hatice Camgoz Akdag

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There is no doubt that humanity needs to realize the sustainability problems in the world and take serious action regarding that. All members of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the most comprehensive study on sustainability internationally, in 2015. The summary of the study is 17 sustainable development goals. It covers everything about sustainability, such as environment, society and governance. The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as the Internet, mobile phones, and satellites, is essential for tackling the main issues facing sustainable development. Hence, the contributions of 3 major ICT companies to the sustainable development goals are assessed in this study. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is utilized as a methodology for this study. Since QFD is an excellent instrument for comparing businesses on relevant subjects, a House of Quality must be established to complete the QFD application. In order to develop a House of Quality, the demanded qualities (voice of the customer) and quality characteristics (technical requirements) must first be determined. UN SDGs are used as demanded qualities. Quality characteristics are derived from annual sustainability and corporate social responsibility reports of ICT companies. The companies' efforts, as indicated by the QFD results, are concentrated on the use of recycled raw materials and recycling, reducing GHG emissions through energy saving and improved connectivity, decarbonizing the value chain, protecting the environment and water resources by collaborating with businesses that have completed CDP water assessments and paying attention to reducing water consumption, ethical business practices, and reducing inequality. The evaluations of the three businesses are found to be very similar when they are compared. The small differences between the companies are usually about the region they serve. Efforts made by the companies mostly concentrate on responsible consumption and production, life below water, climate action, and sustainable cities and community goals. These efforts include improving connectivity in needed areas for providing access to information, education and healthcare.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision-making, sustainable supply chain risk, supply chain agility, quality function deployment, Sustainable development goals

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Authors: Dawd Ahmed, Venkatesh Uddameri

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Agriculture in Ethiopia is the main economic sector influenced by agricultural drought. A simultaneous assessment of drought trends using multiple drought indicators is useful for drought planning and management. Intra-season and seasonal drought trends in Ethiopia were studied using a suite of drought indicators. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and Z-index for long-rainy, dry, and short-rainy seasons are used to identify drought-causing mechanisms. The Statistical software package R version 3.5.2 was used for data extraction and data analyses. Trend analysis indicated shifts in late-season long-rainy season precipitation into dry in the southwest and south-central portions of Ethiopia. Droughts during the dry season (October–January) were largely temperature controlled. Short-term temperature-controlled hydrologic processes exacerbated rainfall deficits during the short rainy season (February–May) and highlight the importance of temperature- and hydrology-induced soil dryness on the production of short-season crops such as tef. Droughts during the long-rainy season (June–September) were largely driven by precipitation declines arising from the narrowing of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Increased dryness during long-rainy season had severe consequences on the production of corn and sorghum. PDSI was an aggressive indicator of seasonal droughts suggesting the low natural resilience to combat the effects of slow-acting, moisture-depleting hydrologic processes. The lack of irrigation systems in the nation limits the ability to combat droughts and improve agricultural resilience. There is an urgent need to monitor soil moisture (a key agro-hydrologic variable) to better quantify the impacts of meteorological droughts on agricultural systems in Ethiopia.

Keywords: autocorrelation, climate change, droughts, Ethiopia, food security, palmer z-index, PDSI, SPEI, SPI, trend analysis

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Authors: Mohamed Ahmed, Ezat Korany, Abdelaziz Al Basam, Osama Kasem

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The arid climate, low rate of precipitations and population reflect the increasing of groundwater uses as the main source of water in Saudi Arabia. The Wajid Aquifer System represents a regional groundwater aquifer system along the edge of the crystalline Arabian Shield near the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The aquifer extends across the border of Saudi Arabia and Yemen from the Asir –Yemen Highlands to the Rub al Khali Depression and possibly to the Gulf coast (at the southwestern tip). The present work is representing a hydrogeochemical investigation on the Wajid Aquifer System. The studied area is being classified into three zones. The 1st zone is West of Wadi Ad Dawasir (Northern part of the studied area), the 2nd is Najran-Asir Zone (southern part of the studied area), and the 3rd zone is the intermediate -central zone (occupying the central area between the last two zones). The groundwater samples were collected and chemically analyzed for physicochemical properties such as pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness (TH), alkalinity (pH), total dissolved solids (TDS), major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3-, SO42- and Cl-), and trace elements. Some parameters such as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percentage (Na%), potential salinity, residual sodium carbonate, Kelly's ratio, permeability index and Gibbs ratio, hydrochemical coefficients, hydrochemical formula, ion dominance, salt combinations and water types were also calculated in order to evaluate the quality of the groundwater resources in the selected areas for different purposes. The distribution of the chemical constituents and their interrelationships are illustrated by different hydrochemical graphs. Groundwater depths and the depth to water were measured to study the effect of discharge on both the water level and the salinity of the studied groundwater wells. A detailed comparison between the three studied zones according to the variations shown by the chemical and field investigations are discussed in detailed within the work.

Keywords: Najran-Asir, Wadi Ad Dawasir, Wajid Aquifer System, effect of discharge

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Authors: Nolitha L. Skenjana, Bongani P. Kubheka, Maxwell A. Poswal

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The Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is characterized by subsistence farming, which is mostly distributed in the rural areas of the province. It is estimated that cereal crops such as maize and sorghum, and vegetables such as cabbage are grown in more than 400.000 rural households, with maize being the most dominant crop. However, compared to commercial agriculture, small-scale farmers receive minimal support from research and development, limited technology transfer on the latest production practices and systems and have poor production infrastructure and equipment. Similarly, there is limited farmers' appreciation on best practices in insect pest management and control. The paper presents findings from the primary literature and personal observations on insect pest management practices of small-scale farmers in the province. Inferences from literature and personal experiences in the production areas have led to a number of deductions regarding the level of exposure and extent of vulnerability. Farmers' pest management practices, which included not controlling at all though there is a pest problem, resulted in their crop stands to be more vulnerable to pest attacks. This became more evident with the recent brown locust, African armyworm, and Fall armyworm outbreaks, and with the incidences of opportunistic phytophagous insects previously collected on wild hosts only, found causing serious damages on crops. In most of these occurrences, damage to crops resulted in low or no yield. Improvements on farmers' reaction and response to pest problems were only observed in areas where focused awareness campaigns and trainings on specific pests and their management techniques were done. This then calls for a concerted effort from all role players in the sphere of small-scale crop production, to train and equip farmers with relevant skills, and provide them with information on affordable and climate-smart strategies and technologies in order to create a state of preparedness. This is necessary for the prevention of substantial crop losses that may exacerbate food insecurity in the province.

Keywords: Eastern Cape Province, small-scale farmers, insect pest management, vulnerability

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Authors: Vilma Zydziunaite, Ausra Rutkiene

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In modern society, problems related to the teacher's personality, mental and physical health, teacher's emotions and competencies are becoming more and more relevant. In Lithuania, compared to other European countries, teachers experience specific difficulties at work: they have to work in conditions of constant reforms and changes and face growing competition due to the decrease in students and schools. Professional burnout, teacher’s self-efficacy and perceived stress are interrelated personally and/or organisationally. So, the relationship between teachers' professional burnout, self-efficacy, and perceived stress in the school environment seems to be a relatively underresearched area in Lithuania. The research aim was to reveal and characterize teacher burnout, self-efficacy, and perceived stress in the Lithuanian school context. The quantitative research design with a questioning survey was chosen for the study. The sample size consisted of 427 Lithuanian teachers. Research results revealed the highest scores for exhaustion and the lowest for cynicism; at a time when the teacher experiences professional burnout, cynicism is observed as the weakest characteristic; no significant differences were found according to educational level work experience; significant differences were identified according to age for exhaustion and overall burnout level among teachers; the most of teachers in Lithuanian sample perceive the moderate stress level in school environment; overall burnout has a significant correlation with self-efficacy and stress among Lithuanian teachers. This study has empirical and practical implications: it is relevant to study the problems of teacher's professional burnout, stress, and self-efficacy in connection with contextual qualitative variables and specify the interrelationships between variables in order to be able to identify specific problems and provide empirical evidence to practically solve them. From a practical point of view, the results show that the socio-emotional state of teachers should not be dismissed as an insignificant aspect. Therefore, the school administration must make efforts to develop a positive school climate that supports the socio-emotional state of the teacher. At the same time, school administration must pay great attention to the development of teachers' socio-emotional competencies without ignoring their importance in the teacher's professional life.

Keywords: Lithuania, perceived stress, professional burnout, self-efficacy, teacher

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Authors: Sreto Boljevic

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Heating systems based on geothermal energy sources are becoming increasingly popular among commercial/community buildings as management of these buildings looks for a more efficient and environmentally friendly way to manage the heating system. The thermal energy supply of most European commercial/community buildings at present is provided mainly by energy extracted from natural gas. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate change targets set by the EU, restructuring in the area of thermal energy supply is essential. At present, heating and cooling account for approx... 50% of the EU primary energy supply. Due to its physical characteristics, thermal energy cannot be distributed or exchange over long distances, contrary to electricity and gas energy carriers. Compared to electricity and the gas sectors, heating remains a generally black box, with large unknowns to a researcher and policymaker. Ain literature number of documents address policies for promoting renewable energy technology to facilitate heating for residential/community/commercial buildings and assess the balance between heat supply and heat savings. Ground source heat pump (GSHP) technology has been an extremely attractive alternative to traditional electric and fossil fuel space heating equipment used to supply thermal energy for residential/community/commercial buildings. The main purpose of this paper is to create an algorithm using an analytical approach that could enable a feasibility study regarding the implementation of GSHP technology in community building with existing fossil-fueled heating systems. The main results obtained by the algorithm will enable building management and GSHP system designers to define the optimal size of the system regarding technical, environmental, and economic impacts of the system implementation, including payback period time. In addition, an algorithm is created to be utilized for a feasibility study for many different types of buildings. The algorithm is tested on a building that was built in 1930 and is used as a church located in Cork city. The heating of the building is currently provided by a 105kW gas boiler.

Keywords: GSHP, greenhouse gas emission, low-enthalpy, renewable energy

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Authors: Aklilu Getahun Sulito

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Land Use and Land Cover change dynamics is a result of complex interactions betweenseveral bio- physical and socio-economic conditions. The impacts of the landcoverchange on stream flow and sediment yield were analyzed statistically usingthehydrological model, SWAT. Genale Dawa Dam III watershed is highly af ectedbydeforestation, over grazing, and agricultural land expansion. This study was aimedusingSWAT model for the assessment of impacts of land use land cover change on sediment yield, evaluating stream flow on wet &dry seasons and spatial distribution sediment yieldfrom sub-basins of the Genale Dawa Dam III watershed. Land use land cover maps(LULC) of 2000, 2008 and 2016 were used with same corresponding climate data. During the study period most parts of the forest, dense forest evergreen and grass landchanged to cultivated land. The cultivated land increased by 26.2%but forest land, forest evergreen lands and grass lands decreased by 21.33%, 11.59 % and 7.28 %respectively, following that the mean annual sediment yield of watershed increased by 7.37ton/haover16 years period (2000 – 2016). The analysis of stream flow for wet and dry seasonsshowed that the steam flow increased by 25.5% during wet season, but decreasedby29.6% in the dry season. The result an average annual spatial distribution of sediment yield increased by 7.73ton/ha yr -1 from (2000_2016). The calibration results for bothstream flow and sediment yield showed good agreement between observed and simulateddata with the coef icient of determination of 0.87 and 0.84, Nash-Sutclif e ef iciencyequality to 0.83 and 0.78 and percentage bias of -7.39% and -10.90%respectively. Andthe result for validation for both stream flow and sediment showed good result withCoef icient of determination equality to 0.83 and 0.80, Nash-Sutclif e ef iciency of 0.78and 0.75 and percentage bias of 7.09% and 3.95%. The result obtained fromthe model based on the above method was the mean annual sediment load at Genale DawaDamIIIwatershed increase from 2000 to 2016 for the reason that of the land uses change. Sotouse the Genale Dawa Dam III the land use management practices are neededinthefuture to prevent further increase of sediment yield of the watershed.

Keywords: Genale Dawa Dam III watershed, land use land cover change, SWAT, spatial distribution, sediment yield, stream flow

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Authors: Sara Tokhi Arab, Rozo Noguchi, Tofeal Ahamed

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Drought is a natural disaster that occurs in a region due to a lack of precipitation and high temperatures over a continuous period or in a single season as a consequence of climate change. Precipitation deficits and prolonged high temperatures mostly affect the agricultural sector, water resources, socioeconomics, and the environment. Consequently, it causes agricultural product loss, food shortage, famines, migration, and natural resources degradation in a region. Agriculture is the first sector affected by drought. Therefore, it is important to develop an agricultural drought risk and loss assessment to mitigate the drought impact in the agriculture sector. In this context, the main purpose of this study was to assess yield loss using composite drought indices in the drought-affected vineyards. In this study, the CDI was developed for the years 2016 to 2020 by comprising five indices: the vegetation condition index (VCI), temperature condition index (TCI), deviation of NDVI from the long-term mean (NDVI DEV), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI) and precipitation condition index (PCI). Moreover, the quantitative principal component analysis (PCA) approach was used to assign a weight for each input parameter, and then the weights of all the indices were combined into one composite drought index. Finally, Bayesian regularized artificial neural networks (BRANNs) were used to evaluate the yield variation in each affected vineyard. The composite drought index result indicated the moderate to severe droughts were observed across the Kabul Province during 2016 and 2018. Moreover, the results showed that there was no vineyard in extreme drought conditions. Therefore, we only considered the severe and moderated condition. According to the BRANNs results R=0.87 and R=0.94 in severe drought conditions for the years of 2016 and 2018 and the R= 0.85 and R=0.91 in moderate drought conditions for the years of 2016 and 2018, respectively. In the Kabul Province within the two years drought periods, there was a significate deficit in the vineyards. According to the findings, 2018 had the highest rate of loss almost -7 ton/ha. However, in 2016 the loss rates were about – 1.2 ton/ha. This research will support stakeholders to identify drought affect vineyards and support farmers during severe drought.

Keywords: grapes, composite drought index, yield loss, satellite remote sensing

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Authors: Mardin Abdalqadir, Paul Adzakro, Tannaz Pak, Sina Rezaei Gomari

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Climate change and global warming recently became significant concerns due to the massive emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, predominantly CO2 gases. Therefore, it is necessary to find sustainable and inexpensive methods to capture the greenhouse gasses and protect the environment for live species. The application of naturally available and cheap adsorbents of carbon such as clay minerals became a great interest. However, the minerals prone to low storage capacity despite their high affinity to adsorb carbon. This paper aims to explore ways to improve the pore volume and surface area of two selected clay minerals, ‘montmorillonite and kaolinite’ by acid treatment to overcome their low storage capacity. Montmorillonite and kaolinite samples were treated with different sulfuric acid concentrations (0.5, 1.2 and 2.5 M) at 40 °C for 8 hours to achieve the above aim. The grain size distribution and morphology of clay minerals before and after acid treatment were explored with Scanning Electron Microscope to evaluate surface area improvement. The ImageJ software was used to find the porosity and pore volume of treated and untreated clay samples. The structure of the clay minerals was also analyzed using an X-ray Diffraction machine. The results showed that the pore volume and surface area were increased substantially through acid treatment, which speeded up the rate of carbon dioxide adsorption. XRD pattern of kaolinite did not change after sulfuric acid treatment, which indicates that acid treatment would not affect the structure of kaolinite. It was also discovered that kaolinite had a higher pore volume and porosity than montmorillonite before and after acid treatment. For example, the pore volume of untreated kaolinite was equal to 30.498 um3 with a porosity of 23.49%. Raising the concentration of acid from 0.5 M to 2.5 M in 8 hours’ time reaction led to increased pore volume from 30.498 um3 to 34.73 um3. The pore volume of raw montmorillonite was equal to 15.610 um3 with a porosity of 12.7%. When the acid concentration was raised from 0.5 M to 2.5 M for the same reaction time, pore volume also increased from 15.610 um3 to 20.538 um3. However, montmorillonite had a higher specific surface area than kaolinite. This study concludes that clay minerals are inexpensive and available material sources to model the realistic conditions and apply the results of carbon capture to prevent global warming, which is one of the most critical and urgent problems in the world.

Keywords: acid treatment, kaolinite, montmorillonite, pore volume, porosity, surface area

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Authors: S. Vaibhav Kant Sahu, Surabhi Bipin Seth

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Human well-being has multiple constituents including the basic material for a good life, freedom and choice, health, good social relations, and security. Poverty is also multidimensional and has been defined as the pronounced deprivation of well-being. Dhurwa tribe of Bastar (India) have symbiotic relation with nature, it provisions ecosystem service such as food, fuel and fiber; regulating services such as climate regulation and non-material benefits such as spiritual or aesthetic benefits and they are managing their forest from ages. The demand for ecosystem services is now so great that trade-off among services become rule. Aim of study to explore evidences for linkages between ecosystem services and well-being of indigenous community, how much it helps them in poverty reduction and interaction between them. Objective of study was to find drivers of change and evidence concerning link between ecosystem, human development and sustainability, evidence in decision making does it opt for multi sectoral objectives. Which means human well-being as the central focus for assessment, while recognizing that biodiversity and ecosystems also have intrinsic value. Ecosystem changes that may have little impact on human well-being over days or weeks may have pronounced impacts over years or decades; so assessments needed to be conducted at spatial and temporal scales under social, political, economic scales to have high-resolution data. Researcher used framework developed by Millennium ecosystem assessment; since human action now directly or unknowingly virtually alter ecosystem. Researcher used ethnography study to get primary qualitative data, secondary data collected from panchayat office. The responses were transcribed and translated into English, as interview held in Hindi and local indigenous language. Focus group discussion were held with group of 10 women at Tiriya village. Researcher concluded with well-being is not just gap between ecosystem service supply but also increases vulnerability. Decision can have consequences external to the decision framework these consequences are called externalities because they are not part of the decision-making calculus.

Keywords: Bastar, Dhurwa tribe, ecosystem services, millennium ecosystem assessment, sustainability

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Authors: Daniel Muwooya

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This paper analyses economic factors that have affected the competitiveness of petroleum refinery and petrochemical projects in sub-Saharan Africa in the past and continue to plague greenfield projects today. Traditional factors like plant sizing and complexity, low-capacity utilization, changing regulatory environment, and tighter product specifications have been important in the past. Additional factors include the development of excess refinery capacity in Asia and the growth of renewable sources of energy – especially for transportation. These factors create both challenges and opportunities for the development of greenfield refineries and petrochemical projects in areas of increased demand growth and new low-cost crude oil production – like sub-Saharan Africa. This paper evaluates the strategies available to project developers and host countries to address contemporary issues of energy transition and the apparent reduction of funds available for greenfield oil and gas projects. The paper also evaluates the structuring of greenfield refinery and petrochemical projects for limited recourse project finance bankability. The methodology of this paper includes analysis of current industry data, conference proceedings, academic papers, and academic books on the subjects of petroleum refinery economics, refinery financing, refinery operations, and project finance generally and specifically in the oil and gas industry; evaluation of expert opinions from journal articles; working papers from international bodies like the World Bank and the International Energy Agency; and experience from playing an active role in the development and financing of US$ 10 Billion greenfield oil development project in Uganda. The paper also applies the discounted cash flow modelling to illustrate the circumstances of an inland greenfield refinery project in Uganda. Greenfield refinery and petrochemical projects are still necessary in sub-Saharan Africa to, among other aspirations, support the transition from traditional sources of energy like biomass to such modern forms as liquefied petroleum gas. Project developers and host governments will be required to structure projects that support global climate change goals without occasioning undue delays to project execution.

Keywords: financing, refinery and petrochemical economics, Africa, project finance

Procedia PDF Downloads 42