Hasil untuk "Environmental law"

Marina Arias, Gemma Burgazzi, Sebastian Pietz et al.

Abstract Background Freshwater ecosystems provide high-quality and essential fatty acids (FAs) to terrestrial food webs via aquatic emergent insects. Anthropogenic stressors, such as artificial light at night (ALAN) and invasive species, may disrupt these aquatic-terrestrial linkages by altering insect emergence and its nutritional quality for terrestrial predators, with cascading effects on terrestrial food webs. The interaction of these individual stressors may have non-additive impacts in the aquatic-terrestrial linkage, for example, by the direct effect of ALAN on the foraging activity of nocturnal invasive species (e.g., signal crayfish). We assessed the impact of ALAN, the invasive signal crayfish, and their interaction on the fluxes of FA via emergent insects, as well as their effect on the FA content in riparian spiders. We conducted a full factorial experiment between spring and summer (six weeks), employing a mesocosm facility composed of 16 artificial streams and adjacent riparian zones. Results The emergent biomass and FA fluxes were highest during the first week of the experiment in spring, and decreased over time. The presence of signal crayfish further reduced FA fluxes, while the FA content in spiders did not significantly differ among treatments. However, there was a tendency for an increased polyunsaturated FA content in spiders under ALAN, suggesting physiological consequences of the exposure to nocturnal illumination. Further, ALAN reduced signal crayfish activity, but this did not translate into a reduction of its effects. Conclusions This research demonstrates the effects of global stressors on complex systems such as aquatic-terrestrial meta-ecosystems and calls for a deeper understanding of the interactive effects of multiple stressors in real-world conditions. Graphical abstract

Xiangyang Cao, Yaojie Zheng, Hanbin Xiao et al.

To enhance the multi-target path planning and tracking performance of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), a combined control strategy integrating the Serret-Frenet Line-of-Sight (SFLOS) algorithm and an incremental PID controller is proposed to achieve precise path tracking in complex environments. Additionally, a novel finite-time observer is presented to compensate for the sideslip angle caused by environmental disturbances in real time. The heading controller of the USV is designed using incremental PID control, and an improved Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed to optimize the PID parameters. The stability and effectiveness of the proposed method are validated through simulations. Furthermore, a USV equipped with a crane-assisted experimental platform is constructed to conduct verification experiments for course control, guidance law, and planned path tracking control. Both simulation and real-world tests demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.

Yulia N. Chuprova, Ekaterina M. Ushakova

This study considers novels of environmental legislation in the sphere of liquidation of objects of accumulated environmental damage. In the research process the liquidation procedures and as well as the need to adopt by-laws are analyzed.

Daniel Black, Geoff Bates, Andy Gibson et al.

Involvement of non-academic stakeholders in research is essential when seeking to address global challenges, yet there is considerable uncertainty on how to do this well given the complexity. This paper aims to define more clearly what ‘good’ co-production looks like in the context of urban-planetary health research and how to operationalise it in research design, drawing on existing literature alongside case study experience from operationalising a major research programme. The first sections of the paper set out the rationale, and analyses key issues identified relating to co-production. The case study analysis is based on six headline themes: clarity of mission, language, societal impact, complexity, new approaches and limitations. Eight principles are presented alongside associated questions for research teams. Logic model development and co-production activities are plotted along the ten-year research trajectory, which reveals five key decision points and potential opportunities for optimising mission-oriented co-production in research design.

Ahmed M. Khalifa, Khaled Z. ElBaghdady, Sayed Abdel-Karim et al.

Abstract Background Qarun Lake is experiencing multiple environmental challenges, notably heavy metal pollution originating from agricultural drainage water. This study presents an integrated approach that combines remote sensing and geospatial analysis of heavy metal contamination with microbiological investigations of indigenous metal-resistant bacteria. Methods Representative water samples were collected and analyzed for heavy metal content using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The samples were analyzed for lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and chromium (Cr) concentrations. The study employed Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, specifically Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation methods, to produce maps depicting heavy metal pollution indices and implementing spatial analysis, making use of ArcGIS (version 10.7.1). Water samples were subcultured on nutrient agar plates augmented with heavy metals. Bacterial colonies that showed high tolerance to heavy metals were identified using MALDI-TOF–MS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results The concentrations of heavy metals Pb, Ni, Cd, and Cr ranged between 0.22 and 0.62, 0.05 and 0.31, 0.03 and 0.1, and 0.02 and 0.06 mg/L, respectively. Among seven pollution indices assessed for heavy metal concentrations, the heavy metal pollution index (HPI) varied from 265.26 to 958.60, and the pollution load index (PLI) ranged between 0.34 and 1.11. Spatial distribution maps representing the specified pollution indices in the surface waters of Lake Qarun were produced. Six isolates that showed high resistance to multiple heavy metals were identified as Actinokineospora fastidiosa, Streptomyces thermolilacinus, Enterococcus hirae, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus altitudinis, and Pseudomonas oleovorans. Conclusions The research demonstrates that Qarun Lake is highly contaminated with heavy metals because of agricultural and industrial waste discharge. Bacillus altitudinis, Bacillus cereus, and Actinokineospora fastidiosa are among the most potent bacterial strains capable of tolerating heavy metals. This study validates the use of isolated strains biomass as a cost-effective and efficient biosorbing agent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous environments. Geospatial techniques have enabled geographic analyses of heavy metals in Qarun Lake. These techniques can predict metal levels following biological treatment, thus offering a method to evaluate the effectiveness of bioremediation.

Nuwani Kangana, Nayomi Kankanamge, Chathura De Silva et al.

The increasing frequency and severity of disasters in urban areas demand sustainable, smart disaster management strategies to leverage technological advancements. This study provides a comprehensive review of mobile apps for disaster awareness available in the Google Play Store, with a particular emphasis on addressing flood disaster readiness and response. Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for disseminating immediate notifications, facilitating emergency communication, and coordinating response activities. A total of 77 mobile apps in the Google Play Store were identified and evaluated using a systematic search. The evaluation criteria included user ratings, download counts, and key crisis management functionalities such as real-time alerts, emergency contact directories, preparedness checklists, and user reporting capabilities. The findings emphasised the following: (a) the importance of integrating cutting-edge technologies, i.e., AI and IoT, to enhance functionality, accuracy, and capacity in mobile applications; (b) the use of crowdsourcing as a valuable mechanism for enriching inclusive and responsible data; (c) enabling timely updates and fostering community engagement; and (d) establishing agency engagements, gamified elements, and real-time reciprocal communication tools, i.e., push-to-talk features to ensure the long-term sustainability of mobile apps. By incorporating these insights, disaster management apps can significantly enhance community resilience and improve the effectiveness of responding to natural disasters in this digital age.

Lin Zhang, Yuzhou Wang, Qi Ding et al.

Ecological restoration and brownfield reuse are important issues in the current field of urban sustainable development and environmental protection. This paper adopts bibliometric and network analysis methods, using more than 600 literature from Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases as research objects, to analyze the research trends, main researchers, contributions of different disciplines, and research hotspots in ecological restoration and brownfield reuse. Based on the results of quantitative analysis, this paper reviews the main research theories, methods, and technologies of ecological restoration and brownfield reuse at home and abroad, as well as response strategies in different regions and future prospects under challenges. Among the top 10 disciplines in terms of disciplinary contribution, the discipline with the highest relevance in the research articles of CNKI is “Environmental Science and Technology”, accounting for approximately 47.24%. The discipline with the highest relevance in the research articles of WOS is “Building Science and Engineering”, accounting for approximately 61.21%. In terms of research theories and methods, emphasis is placed on the application of ecological engineering, landscape ecology, land economics, and sustainable development methods. At the same time, adaptive management methods are emphasized, aiming to achieve a balance between ecological protection and urban development. In terms of response strategies for different regions, the main strategies for ecological restoration and brownfield reuse are proposed from five main aspects: reducing soil erosion and controlling water pollution, restoring ecological communities and enhancing biodiversity, landscape reshaping and spatial transformation, tourism development, and leisure space design. Based on the current challenges in technology, law, funding, management, and society, research prospects for strengthening interdisciplinary integration, digital drive, interdisciplinary collaboration, and multi-party cooperation in the future are proposed. It can be seen that research in this field is no longer just a simple ecological issue, but a comprehensive social problem.

Yanran Wu, Inez Hua, Yi Ding

Large language models (LLMs) offer powerful capabilities but come with significant environmental impact, particularly in carbon emissions. Existing studies benchmark carbon emissions but lack a standardized basis for comparison across different model configurations. To address this, we introduce the concept of functional unit (FU) as a standardized basis and develop FUEL, the first FU-based framework for evaluating LLM serving's environmental impact. Through three case studies, we uncover key insights and trade-offs in reducing carbon emissions by optimizing model size, quantization strategy, and hardware choice, paving the way for more sustainable LLM serving. The code is available at https://github.com/jojacola/FUEL.

Manya Pandit, Triveni Magadum, Harshit Mittal et al.

The research examines the challenges revolving around young people's social movements, activism regarding sustainability, as well as the accompanying social media aspect, and how social media impacts environmental action. This study focuses on the environmental craze on social media platforms and its impact on young activists aged 16-25. With the advancement of social media, new avenues have opened for participation in sustainability issues, especially for the marginalized, as information moved through transnational networks at lightning speed. Along with specific Formative Visual Storytelling methods, the young leaders of the movement deploy hashtags and other online tools to capture the attention of their peers and decision makers. Challenges persist with "clicktivism" fatigue from the internet, and site limitations. This article contributes to insights on emerging forms of civic activism by explaining how digital natives adapt technology to reframe green activism. The research suggests that effective digital environmental movements integrate online and offline action, make it simple for individuals to get involved, and promote tolerance to algorithmic modifications and climate care among participants.

Kai Wang, Li Yu, Jianhua Zhang et al.

The stability and reliability of wireless data transmission in vehicular networks face significant challenges due to the high dynamics of path loss caused by the complexity of rapidly changing environments. This paper proposes a multi-modal environmental sensing-based path loss prediction architecture (MES-PLA) for V2I communications. First, we establish a multi-modal environment data and channel joint acquisition platform to generate a spatio-temporally synchronized and aligned dataset of environmental and channel data. Then we designed a multi-modal feature extraction and fusion network (MFEF-Net) for multi-modal environmental sensing data. MFEF-Net extracts features from RGB images, point cloud data, and GPS information, and integrates them with an attention mechanism to effectively leverage the strengths of each modality. The simulation results demonstrate that the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of MES-PLA is 2.20 dB, indicating a notable improvement in prediction accuracy compared to single-modal sensing data input. Moreover, MES-PLA exhibits enhanced stability under varying illumination conditions compared to single-modal methods.

Umar Congge, Diljayanti Diljayanti, Muh Takdir

The citizen guard information system (Si Jawara) through SimpelDesa is a public service innovation that is currently being implemented by the Bulukumba Regency Village government in providing public services, such as services, goods services, and administrative services as regulated by law. Therefore, the aim of this research is to describe the role of the citizen guard information system (Si Jawara) from a public service perspective. This type of research uses qualitative methods with a descriptive approach. Data sources consist of primary data and secondary data with data collection techniques used, namely observation, interviews, and documentation with reference to research objectives with research indicators regarding the function of public services, namely 1) public protection functions; 2) strategic infrastructure functions; 3) personal and local environmental functions. Data analysis techniques use an interactive analysis model with data analysis stages including data reduction; data presentation; validation test; and verification. The results of the research show that the citizen guard information system (Si Jawara) from a public service perspective in Bira Village, Bulukumba Regency, can be concluded that Si Jawara's innovation through SimpelDesa has a fairly good role in accommodating the needs of the village community, besides that the existence of SI Jawara helps and make it easier for the public to obtain public services, both services, goods and administrative services. Therefore, the innovation carried out by the Bira village government, Bulukumba Regency is part of efforts to improve or reform the bureaucracy and is expected to have a positive impact on neighboring villages

Grayson L. Younts, Elena A. Mikhailova, Lili Lin et al.

The Vermont (VT) Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA, 2020) sets greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets at 26% below 2005 by 2025, 40% below 1990 by 2030 and 80% below 1990 by 2050 for energy-related emissions only. Vermont’s omission of GHG emissions from land conversions could result in significant costs of inaction (COI), which could hinder the state’s mitigation and adaptation plans and result in climate crisis-related risks (e.g., credit downgrade). Science-based spatio-temporal data of GHG emissions from soils because of land conversions can be integrated into the conceptual framework of “action” versus “inaction” to prevent GHG emissions. The application of soil information data and remote sensing analysis can identify the GHG emissions from land conversions, which can be expressed as “realized” social costs of “inaction”. This study demonstrates the rapid assessment of the value of regulating ecosystems services (ES) from soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC), and total soil carbon (TSC) stocks, based on the concept of the avoided social cost of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for VT by soil order and county using remote sensing and information from the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) and Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) databases. Classified land cover data for 2001 and 2016 were downloaded from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) website. These results provide accurate and quantitative spatio-temporal information about likely GHG emissions, which can be linked to VT’s climate action plan. A failure to considerably reduce emissions from land conversions would increase climate change costs and potential legal consequences for VT and beyond its borders.

Arnab Chattopadhyay, Swarnendu Banerjee, Amit Samadder et al.

The study of infectious disease has been of interest to ecologists since long. The initiation of epidemic and the long term disease dynamics are largely influenced by the nature of the underlying consumer (host)-resource dynamics. Ecological traits of such systems may be often modulated by toxins released in the environment due to ongoing anthropogenic activities. This, in addition to toxin-mediated alteration of epidemiological traits, has a significant impact on disease progression in ecosystems which is quite less studied. In order to address this, we consider a mathematical model of disease transmission in consumer population where multiple traits are affected by environmental toxins. Long term dynamics show that the level of environmental toxin determines disease persistence, and increasing toxin may even eradicate the disease in certain circumstances. Furthermore, our results demonstrate bistability between different ecosystem states and the possibility of an abrupt transition from disease-free coexistence to disease-induced extinction of consumers. Overall the results from this study will help us gain fundamental insights into disease propagation in natural ecosystems in the face of present anthropogenic changes.

Motohiro Sunouchi, Masaharu Yoshioka

This paper proposes new acoustic feature signatures based on the multiscale fractal dimension (MFD), which are robust against the diversity of environmental sounds, for the content-based similarity search. The diversity of sound sources and acoustic compositions is a typical feature of environmental sounds. Several acoustic features have been proposed for environmental sounds. Among them is the widely-used Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs), which describes frequency-domain features. However, in addition to these features in the frequency domain, environmental sounds have other important features in the time domain with various time scales. In our previous paper, we proposed enhanced multiscale fractal dimension signature (EMFD) for environmental sounds. This paper extends EMFD by using the kernel density estimation method, which results in better performance of the similarity search tasks. Furthermore, it newly proposes another acoustic feature signature based on MFD, namely very-long-range multiscale fractal dimension signature (MFD-VL). The MFD-VL signature describes several features of the time-varying envelope for long periods of time. The MFD-VL signature has stability and robustness against background noise and small fluctuations in the parameters of sound sources, which are produced in field recordings. We discuss the effectiveness of these signatures in the similarity sound search by comparing with acoustic features proposed in the DCASE 2018 challenges. Due to the unique descriptiveness of our proposed signatures, we confirmed the signatures are effective when they are used with other acoustic features.

Patrick Sohr, Dongxia Wei, Zhengtianye Wang et al.

Semiconductor-based layered hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) house high-wavevector volume plasmon polariton (VPP) modes in the infrared spectral range. VPP modes have successfully been exploited in the weak-coupling regime through the enhanced Purcell effect. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate strong coupling between the VPP modes in a semiconductor HMM and the intersubband transition of epitaxially-embedded quantum wells. We observe clear anticrossings in the dispersion curves for the zeroth-, first-, second-, and third-order VPP modes, resulting in upper and lower polariton branches for each mode. This demonstration sets the stage for the creation of novel infrared optoelectronic structures combining HMMs with embedded epitaxial emitter or detector structures.

Yann-Meing Law, Jean-Christophe Nave

We propose high-order FDTD schemes based on the Correction Function Method (CFM) for Maxwell's interface problems with discontinuous coefficients and complex interfaces. The key idea of the CFM is to model the correction function near an interface to retain the order of a finite difference approximation. For this, we solve a system of PDEs based on the original problem by minimizing an energy functional. The CFM is applied to the standard Yee scheme and a fourth-order FDTD scheme. The proposed CFM-FDTD schemes are verified in 2-D using the transverse magnetic mode (TM$_z$). Numerical examples include scattering of magnetic and non-magnetic dielectric cylinders, and problems with manufactured solutions using various complex interfaces and discontinuous piecewise varying coefficients. Long-time simulations are also performed to provide numerical evidences of the stability of the proposed numerical approach. The proposed CFM-FDTD schemes achieve up to fourth-order convergence in $L^2$-norm and provide approximations devoid of spurious oscillations.

Redakcja PPGiOŚ

Martin Law, Michael J. Grayling, Adrian P. Mander

Existing multi-outcome designs focus almost entirely on evaluating whether all outcomes show evidence of efficacy or whether at least one outcome shows evidence of efficacy. While a small number of authors have provided multi-outcome designs that evaluate when a general number of outcomes show promise, these designs have been single-stage in nature only. We therefore propose two designs, of group-sequential and drop the loser form, that provide this design characteristic in a multi-stage setting. Previous such multi-outcome multi-stage designs have allowed only for a maximum of two outcomes; our designs thus also extend previous related proposals by permitting any number of outcomes.

Ho Law, Lok Ming Lui, Chun Yin Siu

We present a mathematical model to decompose a longitudinal deformation into normal and abnormal components. The goal is to detect and extract subtle quivers from periodic motions in a video sequence. It has important applications in medical image analysis. To achieve this goal, we consider a representation of the longitudinal deformation, called the Beltrami descriptor, based on quasiconformal theories. The Beltrami descriptor is a complex-valued matrix. Each longitudinal deformation is associated to a Beltrami descriptor and vice versa. To decompose the longitudinal deformation, we propose to carry out the low rank and sparse decomposition of the Beltrami descriptor. The low rank component corresponds to the periodic motions, whereas the sparse part corresponds to the abnormal motions of a longitudinal deformation. Experiments have been carried out on both synthetic and real video sequences. Results demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed model to decompose a longitudinal deformation into regular and irregular components.

T. Lanting, M. H. Amin, C. Baron et al.

We present measurements of the dynamics of a polarized magnetic environment coupled to the flux degree of freedom of rf-SQUID flux qubits. The qubits are used as both sources of polarizing field and detectors of the environmental polarization. We probe dynamics at timescales from 5 $μ$s to 5 ms and at temperatures between 12.5 and 22 mK. The measured polarization versus temperature provides strong evidence for a phase transition at a temperature of $5.7\pm 0.3$ mK. Furthermore, the environmental polarization grows initially as $\sqrt{t}$, consistent with spin diffusion dynamics. However, spin diffusion model deviates from data at long timescales, suggesting that a different phenomenon is responsible for the low-frequency behavior. A simple $1/f$ model can fit the data at all time scales but it requires empirical low- and high-frequency cutoffs. We argue that these results are consistent with an environment comprised of random clusters of spins, with fast spin diffusion dynamics within the clusters and slow fluctuations of the total moments of the clusters.