Distribution of Heavy Metals (Cd, Cu, Co, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, and As) in Overbank Sediments of Ibar Tributaries (in Serbia)

The Ibar River is an international river whose watercourse passes next to numerous technogenic landfills and chemical-industrial complexes. They can affect the quality of water in the river, as well as the quality of overbank sediments. The river flows into the West Morava River near Kraljevo and it represents its largest tributary. The analysis of the overbank sediments of Ibar tributaries showed high concentration of heavy metals at some points. The statistical analysis of the content determined the existence of two synthetic factors around which heavy metals were concentrated. The comparison of the chemical composition of overbank sediment with the composition of geological and pedological substratum on which they were developed showed that the increased concentrations of heavy metals were mostly a product of geological and pedological composition of the river’s substratum and basin, and had no connection with (possible) anthropogenic factors. However, due to the sensitivity and proximity of potential pollutants, the necessity to constantly monitor chemical composition of overbank sediments in the river basin was determined.

REVIEW OF THE VOLUME ”SOLUȚIONAREA DIPLOMATICĂ A DIFERENDELOR ÎN DREPTUL INTERNAȚIONAL FLUVIAL” [DIPLOMATIC SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES IN INTERNATIONAL RIVER LAW], AUTHOR: DAN ALEXANDRU GUNĂ, LUMEN PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2019

Browsing through the pages of Dan Alexandru Gună's book, " Soluționarea diplomatică a diferendelor în dreptul internațional fluvial" [Diplomatic Settlement of Disputes in International River Law], the words "beatus, qui prodest, quibus potest" came to my mind (”blessed is the one who becomes useful through the help given”). In these few simple words I could describe this paper, which turns out to be a thorough research of the fundamental principle of public international law, namely the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

International river environment education that combines simulations with specimens from different times and regions

Over the years, humankind has contributed to the destruction of the environment, including river pollution. When comparing river water quality in developed and developing countries, the history is the opposite, with developed countries suffering from polluted rivers at a time when developing countries had relatively clean rivers. Although the literature provides descriptions of past water quality across the globe, there are no samples of this water, leading to a gap in knowledge. Fortunately, a team of researchers led by Dr Shigeki Mayama, Advanced Support Center for Science Teachers, Tokyo Gakugei University Koganei, Japan, has found a way to ascertain past water quality and decipher how it relates to the environmental concerns of the present. Ultimately, they want to help address environmental challenges by helping children to understand the direct impact of human activity on river environments. As such, the researchers are developing an educational programme involving a virtual environment and microorganisms called diatoms. Mayama and the team have developed simulation software called SimRIver, using which students can set up their own river basin environments and use diatoms as proxies for the aquatic environment to learn how they affect water quality. SimRIver is available in 22 languages, making it accessible to children in different countries and broadening its impact. In addition, it operates in a manner that mimics video games in order to be as appealing to students as possible. To circumvent a possible lack of reality, SimRiver is supplemented with actual specimens collected from the river. The idea is that combining virtual simulations with real-life specimens will promote effective learning.

Environmental Management and Development Strategy of Cross-border River Water Resources

International Rivers pass through more than two countries, which makes it difficult to manage international rivers. Nowadays, the integration of world economic development determines the increasingly close cooperation between countries. The international river has become a hot area of economic development. How to rationally develop and utilize the international river and make it healthy and sustainable development is an important problem facing all countries. China is rich in cross-border river water resources. With the increasingly obvious economic status of cross-border river water resources, how to use cross-border river is an urgent problem. Combined with the distribution characteristics of cross-border rivers in China, this paper discusses the strategic significance of cross-border river development and utilization for national development, combs the current situation of cross-border river development and utilization, and puts forward corresponding measures for cross-border river development strategy, which has reference value for solving the problems caused by cross-border river development.

Research on 3D International River Visualization Simulation Based on Human-Computer Interaction

With the development of digitalization in various fields, the water conservancy field is gradually developing digital three-dimensional visualization research to promote the development of digital watershed construction. This paper deeply analyzes and discusses the theory and application of three-dimensional visualization of river water scenes and realizes an interactive visual simulation system based on virtual reality technology, which simulates simulation and operation management, which can greatly accelerate the data. The processing speed makes the huge data be effectively utilized to provide visual interaction means for numerical simulation and data analysis, improve the efficiency of numerical calculation, and realize human-computer interaction communication, so that people can observe the phenomena and laws that are difficult to observe by traditional methods. The rationality of the mathematical model is analyzed for effectiveness.