Circulation of Selenium in the Environment

In order to function properly, every living organism must have favourable conditions for its operation, i.e. it must be systematically supplied with the necessary nutrients. On the example of selenium (Se), it can be seen how important is the right balance between providing the right amount of it, without exceeding the level above which it is toxic. The amount of Se in soil is closely correlated with its content in the parent rock; therefore, it differs depending on the soil type and may change even in a small area. Considerable dispersion of the element in the soils of Poland is related to their formation, mainly from dump materials of various glaciations. The problem of maintaining the balance between deficiency and excess of Se in the diet of humans and animals is related primarily to the uneven distribution of this element in nature. In this paper, on the basis of scientific literature, the current issues related to the deficiency and excess of Se in the soil and its possible sources are presented. The relationship between the content in the soil and the supply of Se in plants, animals and humans was also shown. The aim of this study was to summarise the state of knowledge on the complexity of Se occurrence in the environment and its importance in the soil-plant-animals-human system.

Evaluation at the Endgame: Evaluating Sustainability and the SDGs by Moving Past Dominion and Institutional Capture

Three facts underlay this chapter. First, the human system and all our ambitions for improving the human system depend on sustainable natural systems. Second, we do not have much time. On track to fall well short of all sustainability goals, the climate and sustainability crises grow and extinction looms. Third, up to this point evaluation has shown little interest in sustainability, yet evaluation potentially addresses the very questions that are central to informing and guiding rapid adaptation of human behavior to successfully surmounting extinction.Business-as-usual evaluation will not suffice. At the endgame with extinction looming, we need an evaluation that is more nimble, keeps up with rapidly accelerating knowledge, is relentlessly use-seeking and that guides the way to joined-up approaches. The evaluation we need will systematically mainstream sustainability across all evaluations and interventions, in all evaluation criteria and standards. For this, all evaluations will always address nexus where human and natural systems join and incorporate knowledge and methods from both systems. Existing evaluation knowledge is well suited to this task, as are knowledges in biophysical sciences. We know and promote knowledge processes for integrative evaluation and are starting to shift toward the requirements for evaluation at the nexus. As this chapter shows, the anchors holding us back are political, not technical.

EMPLOYABILITY OF SELECTED DATAMINING ALGORITHMS IN THE EARLY PREDICTION OF CORONARY DISEASES

The objective of our work is to take apart unique data mining methods and procedures in the healthcare system that can use an assumption for coronary disease structure and their impact investigation. A coronary disease prediction model, which executes the data mining method, can help the therapeutic experts perceive the coronary sickness status subject to the patient's clinical data. Data mining description techniques for the great fundamental initiative in human system are specifically Decision trees, Naive Bayes, Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines. Hybridizing or merging any of these calculations makes decisions snappier and assigned dynamically. Information mining is a notable new improvement for extracting hypermetropic and critical information from enormous data sets to build significant and novel encounters. Using impelled data mining systems to extract essential information has been considered a fanatic method to improve human management organization's quality and precision while trimming down the social protection cost and execution time. Using this technique can expect the early detection of coronary disease. Using more information properties, for instance, could develop controllable and natural danger factors, progressively detailed results. Can also broaden this strategy. It can use an extensive part of data properties. Other data mining strategies use for forecasts, such as clustering, time series plan, and association rules. The unstructured data open in the human system industry information base can mine using content mining.

Prediction of structural responses induced by single-person jumping through a physical principle based on transfer functions

The vibration caused by human excitation has become a key factor at the structural design stage of large-span structures including footbridges, sport stadia, and high-rise buildings. As the structures tend to become slenderer and lighter, the mass of the crowd is not negligibly small compared with the mass of the structure. In such cases, the crowd and the structure form a coupling system through a mechanism known as human–structure interaction (HSI). Researchers found that the structural responses with and without HSI are different. However, the interaction effect on the structural responses has rarely been quantitatively evaluated from the perspective of human system parameters. In this paper, a novel method using a physical principle to predict jumping-induced structural responses is proposed, in which the structural response is expressed as the multiplication of a series of transfer functions representing human system and structural dynamic properties. Structural responses of a large-span concrete structure under jumping excitation are predicted using the proposed method and identified human system parameters. Comparison with measured responses shows satisfactory agreement. The proposed method provides a solution to consider HSI effect on the calculation of structural responses in the vibration serviceability design for large-span structures.

Contamination and health risk assessment of instant noodles by heavy metals from commercial outlets in Windhoek, Namibia

With growing international trade, food safety has emerged as an important global human health issue. One of the pathways by which extraneous contaminants such as toxic heavy metals access the human system is through food ingestion. At above permissible levels, these metals pose serious danger to human health. Cultivated farm produce on contaminated soil has the propensity to uptake and accumulate such contaminants. In this study, the prevalence and possible human health risks of toxic heavy metals such as Zinc, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, and Arsenic (Zn, Cd, Cu, Pb and As) in selected Instant Noodle Brands (INBs) from commercial outlets in Windhoek, Namibia was carried out. Different brands of instant noodle samples were purchased from four different commercial outlets for four periods with one-month interval. A total of 48 samples were collected and analysed for the level of heavy metals using mineral acid digestion method. Quantification of analysed metals in digested samples was done using Inductive Coupled Plasma -Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). The mean concentration of heavy metals in the digested instant noodle samples across the sampling periods ranged from 13.1 – 17.9 mg/kg with overall mean concentration of 14.6mg/kg; 0.05 – 0.5mg/kg with overall mean level of 0.15 mg/kg; 1.5 – 2.4 mg/kg with overall mean concentration of 1.9 mg/kg; ND – 1.3 mg/kg with overall mean level of 0.4 mg/kg and 2.3 – 3.8 mg/kg with overall mean concentration of 1.4 mg/kg for Zn, Cd, Cu, Pb and As, respectively. A strong correlation (r = 0.99) was obtained between Zn and Cd levels but average correlation (r = 0.56) between Cd and Cu as well as between Cu and As (r= 0.55). Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) values greater than 1 (one) was obtained for Pb (1.7) and As (7.3). In addition, Carcinogenic Risk Index (CRI) values of 0.71 and 0.02 were also obtained for Pb and As, respectively. Of great concerns are the potential development of non-carcinogenic health effects and carcinogenic health risks with respect to these two toxic metals. Both metals are of no physiological benefits to the human system and very toxic at low levels. Hence, proper quality assurance protocol and monitoring of the level of toxic heavy metals in instant noodles products is recommended.