ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF ANTI-ICING MATERIALS ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SEWAGE WATER DISPOSAL CENTRALIZED SYSTEM

Introduction. The use of anti-icing materials (AIM) in winter, along with useful functions, is accompanied by negative consequences of their impact on environmental objects (EO) and indirectly on human health. At present, the toxic properties of many anti-icing agents (AIM) included in AIMs have been studied, and a number of positions of their impact on environmental protection are monitored. The main utilization of the snow mass is carried out through stationary snow-alloy points (SAP). This event is associated with a high load on environmental protection, especially on water bodies, and requires information on toxicity, intake dynamics, composition of pollutants, including those included in the AIM. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of AIM in the nature of water pollution in SAP treatment systems and the degree of possible contamination of open water bodies, in particular, rivers. Material and methods. The samples of the snow collected from the territory of the city of Moscow for further melting were delivered to the stationary snow-alloy points of the State Unitary Enterprise “Mosvodostok”; water samples from the tanks where the treatment takes place; and wastewater samples were taken before discharge into the river. Chemical analytical methods and a wide range of bio testing methods were used. Results. Through the snow-alloy points as part of the snow mass, the anti-icing materials fall into the reservoirs and rivers of the city of Moscow. This is accompanied by an increase in the number of related elements (Zn>1.0 mg/l, etc.) and easily soluble salts (the mineralization reaches 4830 mg /l). In the waters of rivers, electrical mineralization in some cases reaches the maximum permissible value (1000 mg/l) or slightly exceeds this value (1125 mg/l). An excess is established for a number of elements, both the main components of the AIM and the associated components (Zn, Fe, Al, etc.). Methods of biological control with the involvement of biotests in some cases confirm the presence of a negative effect.

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NESTED HIGH-RESOLUTION NOx AND PM SIMULATIONS OVER ZÜRICH

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6202 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ivo Suter ◽

Lukas Emmenegger ◽

Dominik Brunner

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Boundary Conditions ◽

Meteorological Conditions ◽

Model Systems ◽

Multi Scale ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact ◽

The City ◽

Concentration Levels

Reducing air pollution, which is the world's largest single environmental health risk, demands better-informed air quality policies. Consequently, multi-scale air quality models are being developed with the goal to resolve cities. One of the major challenges in such model systems is to accurately represent all large- and regional-scale processes that may critically determine the background concentration levels over a given city. This is particularly true for longer-lived species such as aerosols, for which background levels often dominate the concentration levels, even within the city. Furthermore, the heterogeneous local emissions, and complex dispersion in the city have to be considered carefully.In this study, the impact of processes across a wide range of scales on background concentrations over Switzerland and the city of Zurich was modelled by performing one year of nested European and Swiss national COSMO-ART simulations to obtain adequate boundary conditions for gas-phase chemical, aerosol and meteorological conditions for city-resolving simulations. The regional climate chemistry model COSMO-ART (Vogel et al. 2009) was used in a 1-way coupled mode. The outer, European, domain, which was driven by chemical boundary conditions from the global MOZART model, had a 6.6 km horizontal resolution and the inner, Swiss, domain one of 2.2 km. For the city scale, a catalogue of more than 1000 mesoscale flow patterns with 100 m resolution was created with the model GRAMM, based on a discrete set of atmospheric stabilities, wind speeds and directions, accounting for the influence of land-use and topography. Finally, the flow around buildings was solved with the CFD model GRAL forced at the boundaries by GRAMM. Subsequently, Lagrangian dispersion simulations for a set of air pollutants and emission sectors (traffic, industry, ...) based on extremely detailed building and emission data was performed in GRAL. The result of this nested procedure is a library of 3-dimensional air pollution maps representative of hourly situations in Zurich (Berchet et al. 2017). From these pre-computed situations, time-series and concentration maps can be obtained by selecting situations according to observed or modelled meteorological conditions.The results were compared to measurements from air quality monitoring network stations. Modelled concentrations of NOx and PM compared well to measurements across multiple locations, provided background conditions were considered carefully. The nested multi-scale modelling system COSMO-ART/GRAMM/GRAL can adequately reproduce local air quality and help understanding the relative contributions of local versus distant emissions, as well as fill the space between precise point measurements from monitoring sites. This information is useful for research, policy-making, and epidemiological studies particularly under the assumption that exceedingly high concentrations become more and more localised phenomenon in the future.

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Digital Twin and CyberGIS for Improving Connectivity and Measuring the Impact of Infrastructure Construction Planning in Smart Cities

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi9040240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 240 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Sara Shirowzhan ◽

Willie Tan ◽

Samad M. E. Sepasgozar

Keyword(s):

Smart City ◽

Technology Development ◽

Smart Cities ◽

Smart Devices ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Wide Range ◽

Infrastructure Project ◽

Smart Technologies ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Smart technologies are advancing, and smart cities can be made smarter by increasing the connectivity and interactions of humans, the environment, and smart devices. This paper discusses selective technologies that can potentially contribute to developing an intelligent environment and smarter cities. While the connectivity and efficiency of smart cities is important, the analysis of the impact of construction development and large projects in the city is crucial to decision and policy makers, before the project is approved. This raises the question of assessing the impact of a new infrastructure project on the community prior to its commencement—what type of technologies can potentially be used for creating a virtual representation of the city? How can a smart city be improved by utilizing these technologies? There are a wide range of technologies and applications available but understanding their function, interoperability, and compatibility with the community requires more discussion around system designs and architecture. These questions can be the basis of developing an agenda for further investigations. In particular, the need for advanced tools such as mobile scanners, Geospatial Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Geospatial Augmented Reality apps, Light Detection, and Ranging in smart cities is discussed. In line with smart city technology development, this Special Issue includes eight accepted articles covering trending topics, which are briefly reviewed.

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Lack of application of the European Work Time Directive: effects on workload, work satisfaction and burnout among Italian physicians

Italian Journal of Medicine ◽

10.4081/itjm.2017.714 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 159

Author(s):

Paola Gnerre ◽

Domenico Montemurro ◽

Andrea P. Rossi ◽

Costantino Troise ◽

Carlo Palermo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Work Conditions ◽

Public Hospitals ◽

Burnout Syndrome ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Work Time ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

The Italian Parliament has excluded hospital physicians from the application of the European Work Time Directive (EWTD), which imposes a maximum workweek of 48 h and compulsory resting periods. This resulted in extended and excessive work time for the category. This paper is aimed at evaluating the impact of this legislation gap, by assessing the presence of excessive work-related stress and risk for burnout syndrome among Italian physicians working in public hospitals. This observational study is based on an on-line survey conducted on a sample of 1925 Italian doctors (covering a wide range of age, work experience and contractual positions) from October 2014 to February 2015. The questionnaire included 30 questions concerning their personal and professional life (e.g., assessment of workloads, number of uncomfortable or extra shifts, unused days-off, etc.). On the basis of the results, it can be inferred that the average Italian doctor working in public hospitals is under considerable stress at work with negative consequences on his health. He is exposed to high risk of suffering from sleep disorders and cardiovascular diseases (due to the lack of time for private practice and eating regular meals). Overall, his perception is that his job worsens his quality of life. This study shows the relevance of the risk of burnout among Italian physicians employed in public hospitals due to severe workload and work conditions. The resulting impact on the quality of care and the significant cost involved - both in human and economic terms - calls for significant emergency measures by the Italian health work organization. An important increase and prolonged working time is associated with a worsening of the objective cognitive performance and an increase of clinical risk, but also to an increased risk of diseases for operators and of the burnout syndrome. Our survey shows that lack of application of the EWTD has adverse effects on the quality of life and performance of Italian doctors. Failure to respond by all Italian doctors is the greatest limitation of our survey.

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Coupled CFD-DEM modelling to assess settlement velocity and drag coefficient of microplastics

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10049 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Robin Jérémy ◽

Latessa Pablo Gaston ◽

Manousos Valyrakis

Keyword(s):

Fluid Dynamics ◽

Fresh Water ◽

Turbulent Flows ◽

Transport Processes ◽

Water Bodies ◽

World Health ◽

Drinking Water Source ◽

Drag Coefficients ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

Several studies have documented high concentration of microplastics on fresh water sources, oceans and even on treated tap and bottled water. Understanding the physics behind these particles in the water environment has become one of the key research needs identified in the World Health Organization Report (2019). In order to develop novel and efficient methodologies for sampling, treating and removing microplastics from water bodies, a thorough understanding of the sources and transportation and storage mechanisms of these particles is required.In this article, the settlement velocity affecting the transport [1, 2] of low-density particles (1<r<1.4 g.cm-3) and drag coefficients is assessed through numerical modelling. The effects of fluid and particle relative densities and media temperatures are analysed, as well as the impact of the particle size and shapes [3].Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques are applied to solve the fluid dynamics while the Discrete Element Method (DEM) approach is used to model the particle trajectories [4]. These two modules are coupled under the CFDEM module, which transmits the forces from the fluid into the particle and from the particle into the surrounding water through the Fictitious Boundary Method approach.Several tests are run under the same particle conditions in order to estimate the influence of turbulent flows on these experiments. The influence from different particle densities and diameters on settling velocities and drag coefficients is assessed. The numerical results are validated against a wide range of experimental data [2, 3] and compared against empirical predictions.There is an urge for gaining a better understanding of the sources and transport of microplastics through fresh water bodies. In this sense, sampling and quantification of microplastics in a drinking water source is key to evaluate the environment status and to design the most appropriate techniques to reduce or remove the microplastics from the aquatic environments. The implementation of coupled CFD-DEM models provides a very powerful tool for the understanding and prediction of the transport processes and the accumulation of microplastics along the fluvial vectors.&#160;References[1] Valyrakis M., Diplas P. and Dancey C.L. 2013. Entrainment of coarse particles in turbulent flows: An energy approach. J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., Vol. 118, No. 1., pp 42- 53, doi:340210.1029/2012JF002354.[2] Valyrakis, M., Farhadi, H. 2017. Investigating coarse sediment particles transport using PTV and &#8220;smart-pebbles&#8221; instrumented with inertial sensors, EGU General Assembly 2017, Vienna, Austria, 23-28 April 2017, id. 9980.[3] Valyrakis, M., J. Kh. Al-Hinai, D. Liu (2018), Transport of floating plastics along a channel with a vegetated riverbank, 12th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics, Tokyo, Japan, August 19-24, 2018, a11_2705647.[4] Valyrakis M., P. Diplas, C.L. Dancey, and A.O. Celik. 2008. Investigation of evolution of gravel river bed microforms using a simplified Discrete Particle Model, International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics River Flow 2008, Ismir, Turkey, 03-05 September 2008, 10p.

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Features of the Biological Properties of Vibrio cholerae Isolated during the Monitoring of Water Bodies in Rostov-on-Don from 1989 to 2018

Problems of Particularly Dangerous Infections ◽

10.21055/0370-1069-2021-1-148-151 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 148-151

Author(s):

M. I. Ezhova ◽

D. А. Levchenkо ◽

I. V. Arkhangelskaya ◽

V. D. Kruglikov ◽

N. B. Nepomnyashchaya

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection ◽

Vibrio Cholerae ◽

Statistical Methods ◽

Direct Relationship ◽

Biological Properties ◽

Biological Characteristics ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Environmental Objects ◽

Toxigenic Strains ◽

El Tor

The goal is to study the features of the biological properties of Vibrio cholerae strains found in environmental objects (EO) on the territory of Rostov-on-Don from 1989 to 2018.Materials and methods. Bacteriological, molecular biological and statistical methods were used to study 73 strains of cholera vibrios O1, O139 and 1702 strains of nonO1/nonO139 serogroups isolated over a 30-year period.Results and discussion. It was found that in Rostovon-Don, 78.0 % of toxigenic strains were isolated from all isolated from environmental protection in Russia, among which 2 were genetically unchanged. The V. cholerae O1 classical strain and 72 V. cholerae El Tor strains were found, of which 70 % belonged to the Ogawa serovar, and 3 % of the nontoxigenic strains were susceptible to the classical phage. A “very weak direct relationship” was statistically revealed between the isolation of V. cholerae O1, O139 and V. cholerae nonO1/nonO139 strains, in which the dominant serogroups (O67, O76, O75, O53, O16) were identified, and 18 % of the strains showed atypical agglutinability. Revealing the biological characteristics of V. cholerae strains contributes to the optimization of monitoring studies.

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Urban water bodies as the basis for functioning of public spaces

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202021702005 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 217 ◽

pp. 02005

Author(s):

Valentina Kurochkina

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Urban Environment ◽

Urban Space ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Water Bodies ◽

High Rate ◽

The Creation ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Recently, housing construction in cities has been carried out at a high rate. Increasingly, urban abandoned and flooded depressive spaces near water bodies (often rivers), which were previously used as industrial facilities or temporarily used, are becoming the sphere of architectural and landscape transformations. The restoration of such territories helps to improve the quality of urban space and improve its ecological properties. Correct development of territories near rivers and various water bodies has a great health-improving effect on the urban environment, improves its natural and climatic conditions. In addition, social and economic factors play an important role in this process, since such transformed territories and territories adjacent to them significantly increase investment attractiveness. This paper examines modern approaches to the development of urban public spaces, based on the formation of architectural environments that ensure the relationship of urban development with water bodies and adjacent territories. The paper notes that water bodies are not only an important component of the natural-ecological framework, but are also the basis for the framework of urban-planning natural-technogenic systems as a whole. And the creation of a continuous urban fabric is impossible without the organization of a ‘water’ line of development, provision of compositional, functional and communication interconnection of open urban and water spaces, which is actively being introduced today in architectural and urban planning practice. The paper examines the role of water bodies in the ecological system of the city, as well as in its structure as a whole. The aim of the study is to identify the features of the formation of a public urban space, to determine the patterns of its development, to identify criteria that reflect the nature, scale and features of the impact of urbanization on a water body. Some principles of revitalization of coastal areas, as well as the creation of a system of publicly accessible, compositionally expressive spaces are considered. The principles of space transformation aimed at the formation of a holistic image of the city, as well as the impact of such a spatial arrangement of urban and water bodies on the safety and quality of the urban environment are considered.

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Impact of Housing Environment on the Immune System in Chickens: A Review

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10071138 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1138 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tanja Hofmann ◽

Sonja S. Schmucker ◽

Werner Bessei ◽

Michael Grashorn ◽

Volker Stefanski

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Allostatic Load ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Future Research ◽

Poultry Production ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Housing Environment ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

During their lifespan, chickens are confronted with a wide range of acute and chronic stressors in their housing environment that may threaten their welfare and health by modulating the immune system. Especially chronic stressful conditions can exceed the individual’s allostatic load, with negative consequences for immunity. A fully functional immune system is mandatory for health and welfare and, consequently, also for high productivity and safe animal products. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of housing form, light regime as well as aerial ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations on the immune system in chickens. Certain housing conditions are clearly associated with immunological alterations which potentially impair the success of vaccinations or affect disease susceptibility. Such poor conditions counteract sustainable poultry production. This review also outlines current knowledge gaps and provides recommendations for future research.

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Post-flânerie: How do mobile devices shape the experience of the city?

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20196401005 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 64 ◽

pp. 01005

Author(s):

Gorsev Argin ◽

Burak Pak ◽

Handan Turkoglu

Keyword(s):

Mobile Devices ◽

Urban Life ◽

Mobile Technologies ◽

Mutual Relationship ◽

Urban Experience ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Modern Cities ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

In the last decade, the advances in mobile technologies and location-based applications reshaped our mutual relationship with the urban environment. These technologies, as both a mean and barrier to the engagement between humans and their environment, have transformed the urban experience in profound ways. Urban experience is a relatively new concept introduced with the rise of modern cities in the nineteenth century. Its loss due to the rapid urbanization has been a subject of debate since then. Among the discussions that take place in this debate, the figure of ‘flâneur’ plays an extensive role. The flâneur is a figure who wanders through and appropriates the metropolitan city in pursuit of urban experience and reaps aesthetic meaning from the spectacle of the teeming crowds. Flânerie, or the act of wandering, and its implications for our understanding of urban life have been profound. Today, mobile technologies create a new kind of urban wanderer which is described as “post-flâneur”. In this paper, by examining the altering concept of flânerie, we discuss the effects of mobile technologies on urban experience. Based on an informed study of a wide range of theories, we make reflections on the impact of mobile devices on the mutual relationship between humans and their environment, introduce key concepts for understanding the emergent phenomenon of post-flânerie and elaborate on its interconnections with the phenomena of cyber and hybrid-flânerie.

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Constructing Mediterranean wetland open water dynamics using a new 18-year MODIS-derived surface water fraction dataset

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19945 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Linlin Li ◽

Anton Vrieling ◽

Andrew Skidmore ◽

Tiejun Wang

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Surface Water ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Open Water ◽

Water Area ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Water Dynamics ◽

Water Fraction ◽

Wide Range

Wetlands are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, due largely to their dynamic hydrology. Frequent observations by satellite sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) allow for monitoring the seasonal, inter-annual and long-term dynamics of surface water extent. However, existing MODIS-based studies have only demonstrated this for large water bodies despite the ecological importance of smaller-sized wetland systems. In this paper, we constructed the temporal dynamics of surface water extent for 340 individual water bodies in the Mediterranean region between 2000 and 2017, using a previously developed 8-day 500 m MODIS surface water fraction (SWF) dataset. These water bodies has a wide range of size, specifically 0.01 km2 and larger. We then compared the water extent time series derived from MODIS SWF with those derived from a Landsat-based dataset. Results showed that MODIS- and Landsat-derived water extent time series showed a high correlation (r = 0.81) for more dynamic water bodies. Our MODIS SWF dataset can also effectively monitor the variability of very small water bodies (<1 km2) when comparing with Landsat data as long as the temporal variability in their surface water area was high. We conclude that MODIS SWF is a useful product to help understand hydrological dynamics for both small and larger-sized water bodies, and to monitor their seasonal, intermittent, inter-annual and long-term changes.

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Assessing innovation: Dynamics of high-rise development in an Israeli city

Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science ◽

10.1177/0265813516671311 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 253-274

Author(s):

Jonatan Almagor ◽

Itzhak Benenson ◽

Nurit Alfasi

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Diffusion Of Innovation ◽

High Rise ◽

Stochastic Fluctuations ◽

Innovation Dynamics ◽

Wide Range ◽

Urban Models ◽

New Development ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Urban models serve as laboratories, providing researchers with the opportunity to assess the impact of a wide range of social and economic processes on the development of a built environment. Novelty and unexpected changes play an essential role in this development, but these are difficult to formalize and imitate. Typically, urban models simulate innovation by introducing stochastic fluctuations of the pre-established development rules. This research offers a methodology for assessing innovation in a developing city and examining its impact on urban development. The methodology is implemented in the Israeli city of Netanya, where urban development is analyzed at a resolution of single buildings over a period of three decades. We recognize two types of innovation: spatial innovation, manifested by leapfrogging residential clusters that establish new development areas; and contextual innovation, manifested by residential clusters that include buildings that are substantially higher than their surroundings. We demonstrate the impact of few innovative residential clusters on urban development in the following decades and highlight the diffusion of innovation in the city.

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