Trace element atmospheric pollution in South Albania studied by the moss technique and inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry

Monitoring hazardous air pollutants is needed for understanding their spatial and temporal distribution and ultimately to minimize their harmful effects. For the first time, the moss biomonitoring technique has been applied to air pollution monitoring in South Albania. Moss samples were collected during the period of September–October 2010, and were analyzed for total concentration of the elements Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V, and Zn by inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry. Geographical distribution maps of the elements over the sampled territory were constructed using geographic information systems technology. Multivariate statistical analysis was applied to distinguish elements mainly of anthropogenic origin from those predominantly originating from natural sources. Four factors were identified: Factor 1 reflects wind-blown mineral particles or local emissions from industry (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, V, Zn); Factor 2 is related to long-range atmospheric transport of elements or local emissions from industry (Cd, Pb); Factor 3 (Na, Mg) and Factor 4 (K) reflect the natural origin of elements as crustal, marine, and vegetation components.     

Evaluating poverty–environment dynamics

Developing indicators to more effectively evaluate poverty–environment dynamics and inform policy is an urgent research priority. It is critical that these indicators are used in ways that accurately represent the relationship they are meant to inform. This article evaluates the theory and use of poverty–environment indicators, a relatively new tool developed to aid in the design and evaluation of poverty reduction strategies in the context of environmental change. We argue that while they have great potential, in their current form and use, poverty–environment indicators may contribute to critical misunderstandings of processes on the ground. These issues stem from a problematic and largely unacknowledged process of simplifying particular poverty–environment relationships. This article lays out the problematic character of this simplification process, and suggests how we might address these problems to create more useful understandings of poverty–environment dynamics to inform policy.     

Exploring co-investments in sustainable land management in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, not only farmers but also the public and private sector partners are still hesitant to invest in sustainable land management (SLM). This study focuses on the Central Rift Valley and explores the potential for co-investments in SLM, where public and private sector partners support farmers with material, capital, knowledge, etc. A survey revealed current bottlenecks for co-investments and requirements needed to collaboratively invest in SLM. It covered 165 public sector partners (micro-, meso- and macro-level institutions) and 42 private sector partners (banks, exporters and local traders). Results for the public sector show a gap between macro- and micro-/meso-level actors concerning co-investments in SLM. Macro-level institutions do not acknowledge the bottlenecks identified by micro- and meso-level institutions (e.g. lack of accountability, top-down approaches and lack of good leadership). Similarly, opinions on requirements for co-investments in SLM differ considerably, showing that bridging the institutional micro–macro gap is crucial to co-investments. Most factors are related to the wider governance context and to different perceptions among micro- and macro-level actors as to the critical pre-conditions to co-investment in SLM. Improving governance at all institutional levels, capacity building and enhancing a common understanding on barriers to SLM is required. Results for the private sector reveal that economic bottlenecks limit possibilities to co-invest in SLM, and that enabling policies in the public sphere are required to trigger private investments. Hence, the potential for co-investments in SLM is available in Ethiopia at micro- and meso-level and within the private sector, but profound commitment and fundamental policy changes at the macro-level are required to exploit this potential.     

Assessment of the seismic effect of insulation on extra-large cryogenic liquid natural gas storage tanks

Insulation is typically used in extra-large double-walled cryogenic storage tanks that are used to store liquid natural gas (LNG). These vessels have been designed with the assumption that the insulation offers negligible structural resistance that might cause structural damage. Observation of the deformation of the insulation in such tanks leads to concern that the insulation may become sufficiently compacted to cause significant load transfer between the inner and outer tank. The inner tank, though protected from most external events by the outer tank, is only designed to contain the liquid gas. It is therefore much more sensitive to seismic effects. In this investigation, simplified and 3D finite element models are used to simulate the interaction effects of the fluid, inner tank, insulation and outer tank. This paper presents an initial analysis of the potential effects of LNG tank insulation under earthquake conditions and assesses the potential for structural damage by comparison of models that do or do not consider the insulation layer. The data reported and statistically sorted include the overturning moment, the base shear, the tank wall stress, and the wave height in the tank. The results show that the insulation layer has certain influence on seismic design of LNG tanks.     

A design method of a plant alarm system for first alarm alternative signals using a modularized CE model

Management of a plant alarm system has been identified as one of the key safety issues because of disasters caused by alarm floods. When a chemical plant is at abnormal state, an alarm system must provide useful information to operators as the third layer of an independent protection layer (IPL). Therefore, a method of designing a plant alarm system is important for plant safety. Because the plant is maintained in the plant lifecycle, the alarm system for the plant should be properly managed through the plant lifecycle. To manage changes, the design rationales of the alarm system should be explained explicitly. This paper investigates a logical and systematic alarm system design method that explicitly explains the design rationales from know-why information for proper management of changes through the plant lifecycle. In the method, the module structure proposed by Hamaguchi et al. (2011) to assign a fault origin to be distinguished is extended. Using modules to investigate the sets of alarm sensors and the alarm limits setting for first alarm alternative signals to distinguish the fault origin, an alarm system design method is proposed. Also, the completeness of fault propagation for a branch of the cause–effect model as the plant model is explained. Using the modules and the set of fault origins to be distinguished by the alarm system, we try to explicitly explain the design rationales of the alarm system.     

The photocatalytic degradation of carbamazepine and prediction by artificial neural networks

The three layer artificial neural network model was applied to predict the degradation efficiency for carbamazepine in photocatalytic oxidation under UV radiation. Titania–zirconia was employed as a catalyst for the photooxidation. The catalyst was prepared using titanium isopropoxide and zirconium oxychloride by sol–gel method and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and BET analysis. Different process parameters such as, initial concentration of carbamazepine, pH of the solution, catalyst concentration and time of UV irradiation were employed as the input to the artificial neural network model and the output of the network was degradation efficiency of carbamazepine. The multilayer feed-forward networks with the Levenberg–Marquardt (trainlm) backpropagation training algorithm was used for the network training. The smallest mean square error was obtained for three-layer network with ‘logsig’ transfer function and five neurons in the hidden layer gave optimal results. A comparison between the predicted values and selective experimental data of degradation efficiency showed a high correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.997.     

Connectivity between countries established by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway

The conservation of long-distance migratory birds requires coordination between the multiple countries connected by the movements of these species. The recent expansion of tracking studies is shedding new light on these movements, but much of this information is fragmented and inaccessible to conservation practitioners and policy makers. We synthesized current knowledge on the connectivity established between countries by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway. We reviewed tracking studies to compile migration records for 1229 individual birds, from which we derived 544 migratory links, each link corresponding to a species’ connection between a breeding country in Europe and a nonbreeding country in sub-Saharan Africa. We used these migratory links to analyze trends in knowledge over time and spatial patterns of connectivity per country (across species), per species (across countries), and at the flyway scale (across all countries and all species). The number of tracking studies available increased steadily since 2010 (particularly for landbirds), but the coverage of existing tracking data was highly incomplete. An average of 7.5% of migratory landbird species and 14.6% of raptor species were tracked per country. More data existed from central and western European countries, and it was biased toward larger bodied species. We provide species- and country-level syntheses of the migratory links we identified from the reviewed studies, involving 123 populations of 43 species, migrating between 28 European and 43 African countries. Several countries (e.g., Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo) are strategic priorities for future tracking studies to complement existing data, particularly on landbirds. Despite the limitations in existing tracking data, our data and results can inform discussions under 2 key policy instruments at the flyway scale: the African–Eurasian Migratory Landbirds Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia.     

Effects of climate change and anthropogenic activity on ranges of vertebrate species endemic to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau over 40 years

Over the past 40 years, the climate has been changing and human disturbance has increased in the vast Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP). These 2 factors are expected to affect the distribution of a large number of endemic vertebrate species. However, quantitative relationships between range shifts and climate change and human disturbance of these species in the QTP have rarely been evaluated. We used occurrence records of 19 terrestrial vertebrate species (birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles) occurring in the QTP from 1980 to 2020 to quantify the effects of climate change and anthropogenic impacts on the distribution of these 4 taxonomic groups and estimated species range changes in each species. The trend in distribution changes differed among the taxonomic groups, although, generally, ranges shifted to central QTP. Climate change contributed more to range variation than human disturbance (the sum of the 4 climatic variables contributed more than the sum of the 4 human disturbance variables for all 4 taxonomic groups). Suitable geographic range increased for most mammals, amphibians, and reptiles (+27.6%, +18.4%, and +27.8% on average, respectively), whereas for birds range decreased on average by 0.9%. Quantitative evidence for climate change and human disturbance associations with range changes for endemic vertebrate species in the QTP can provide useful insights into biodiversity conservation under changing environments.     

Climate change and urban land systems: bridging the gaps between urbanism and land science

ABSTRACT

Land science has generated critical knowledge about how humans modify Earth’s surface and has advanced our understanding of land as a coupled human–environment system. However, to date, most work has been in frontier environments with less attention – both conceptually and empirically – on how urban land systems affect the carbon cycle. Much of what is known about urban areas and the carbon cycle is limited to aggregate levels of activities within urban areas, usually by sector, with little focus on how the spatial configuration of urban land systems affects carbon-emitting activities. Given that urban areas produce about 70% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions, it is crucial to understand the relationship between urban environments, the activities they influence, and the resulting carbon emissions. This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge of how urban land systems affect carbon emissions and vulnerability, and identifies research gaps and opportunities for urban land science to contribute to climate change science, particularly through land architecture. We argue that more attention to urban land science conceptualization, measurement, and analysis would contribute to both fundamental knowledge about urban systems, as well as help identify policies and strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change at the urban scale.     

Does Oil and Goodwill Mix?: Examining the Oil and Gas Industry’s Impact on Stakeholder Engagement on Facebook

The present study explores how oil and gas companies use Facebook to communicate about community-supporting initiatives and engage stakeholders. Drawing from the company–cause fit and social interactivity literature, we examined the type of message and the language used in company Facebook posts to elicit stakeholder engagement, as measured by the number of likes, shares, and comments. We content analyzed 953 Facebook posts from 12 companies featured on Oil & Gas Journal’s top 50-company list. The results showed that, although oil and gas companies are posting about their CSR-related efforts on Facebook, their lack of two-way messaging and interactive language use are not effectively engaging stakeholders. In terms of theory, this study advances company–cause fit and interactive studies by applying them to the oil and gas industry. In terms of practice, the results highlight the importance of using diverse messaging and interactive language when utilizing Facebook to engage stakeholders.