Urban environmental problems in cities of the Kurdistan region in Iraq

Cities in the Kurdistan region in Iraq – particularly, the capital city of Hewlair (Erbil) – are facing environmental problems such as water, air and noise pollution. Political instability, ethnic tensions, politically motivated decisions, wars and economic sanctions, consumerism, lack of sufficient funds, and tension between the federal and regional governments due to power and wealth sharing are major contributors to the environmental problems; this paper will depict and analyse these. Although these problems are causing serious health issues for the inhabitants and sometimes death, the authorities are unable to solve them. The paper sheds light on the causes and effects of the environmental problems and also draws conclusions and makes suggestions.     

Empirical Comparison of Temperature-Distribution Models for Energy and Exergy Analyses of Stratified Thermal Energy Storages

Five previously developed temperature-distribution models are compared using data from actual thermal energy storage (TES) systems, and the advantages and disadvantages of each model are identified. These models are used for evaluating the energy and exergy in a TES. Furthermore, the accuracy and simplicity of the temperature-distribution models (Linear, Stepped, Continuous-linear, Three-zone and General-linear) are compared in order to determine which model has the greatest accuracy and simplicity regarding computational effort, while providing physical understanding. After fitting the models to temperature data for 35 stratified TES samples, it was observed that some models are easy to use but relatively inaccurate, while others are relatively accurate but complicated to use. As a trade-off, the Three-zone model provides physical understanding, yields acceptable accuracy and is relatively simple to use, especially in computing the parameters needed for energy and exergy assessments of stratified TESs.     

Short-term dynamics and long-term relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Nigeria: an ARDL approach with breaks

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper investigates the short-term dynamics as well as the long-term relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Nigeria,...     

Study of the performance of thermoelectric generator for waste heat recovery from chimney: impact of nanofluid-microchannel cooling system

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A huge number of chimneys all over the world utilized in many industrial applications and applications like restaurants, homes, etc. contribute badly...     

Tensile,Thermal and Physical Properties of Washightonia Trunk Fibres/Pineapple Fibre Biophenolic Hybrid Composites

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - In this work, hybrid composites reinforced with Washightonia trunk fibres (GW)/Pineapple fibre (PALF) in bio-phenolic matrix were fabricated with...     

The first fossil fungus gardens of Isoptera: oldest evidence of symbiotic termite fungiculture (Miocene, Chad basin)

Higher termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae (fungus-growing termites) are known to build fungus gardens where a symbiotic fungus (Termitomyces sp.) is cultivated. The fungus grows on a substrate called fungus comb, a structure built with the termites’ own faeces. Here we present the first fossil fungus combs ever found in the world. They were extracted from 7-million-year-old continental sandstone (Chad basin). Fossilized fungus combs have an ovoid morphology with a more or less flattened concave base and a characteristic general alveolar aspect. Under lens, they display a typical millimetre-scale pelletal structure. The latter, as well as the general shape and alveolar aspect, are similar to the morphology of fungus combs from extant fungus-growing termites.     

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web structure, function, and evolution. Still, the general distribution of consumer-'resource body-size ratios in real ecosystems, and whether they vary systematically among habitats or broad taxonomic groups, is poorly understood. Using a unique global database on consumer and resource body sizes, we show that the mean body-size ratios of aquatic herbivorous and detritivorous consumers are several orders of magnitude larger than those of carnivorous predators. Carnivorous predator-prey body-size ratios vary across different habitats and predator and prey types (invertebrates, ectotherm, and endotherm vertebrates). Predator-prey body-size ratios are on average significantly higher (1) in freshwater habitats than in marine or terrestrial habitats, (2) for vertebrate than for invertebrate predators, and (3) for invertebrate than for ectotherm vertebrate prey. If recent studies that relate body-size ratios to interaction strengths are general, our results suggest that mean consumer-resource interaction strengths may vary systematically across different habitat categories and consumer types.     

Description of hydrogeologic heterogeneity and evaluation of radionuclide transport at an underground nuclear test

Realistic models of contaminant transport in groundwater demand detailed characterization of the spatial distribution of subsurface hydraulic properties, while at the same time programmatic constraints may limit collection of pertinent hydraulic data. Fortunately, alternate forms of data can be used to improve characterization of spatial variability. We utilize a methodology that augments sparse hydraulic information (hard data) with more widely available hydrogeologic information to generate equiprobable maps of hydrogeologic properties that incorporate patterns of connected permeable zones. Geophysical and lithologic logs are used to identify hydrogeologic categories and to condition stochastic simulations using Sequential Indicator Simulation (SIS). The resulting maps are populated with hydraulic conductivity values using field data and Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS). Maps of subsurface hydrogeologic heterogeneity are generated for the purpose of examining groundwater flow and transport processes at the Faultless underground nuclear test, Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA), through large-scale, three-dimensional numerical modeling. The maps provide the basis for simulation of groundwater flow, while transport of radionuclides from the nuclear cavity is modeled using particle tracking methods. Sensitivity analyses focus on model parameters that are most likely to reduce the long travel times observed in the base case. The methods employed in this study have improved our understanding of the spatial distribution of preferential flowpaths at this site and provided the critical foundation on which to build models of groundwater flow and transport. The results emphasize that the impacts of uncertainty in hydraulic and chemical parameters are dependent on the radioactive decay of specific species, with rapid decay magnifying the effects of parameters that change travel time.     

A bibliometric study on blockchain-based supply chain: a theme analysis,adopted methodologies,and future research agenda

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The emergence of the underlying blockchain technology of bitcoin has gained extensive attention from researchers and practitioners. As distributed...