Using Granulate Composites with Calcined Phosphogypsum and Pet Additive in Asphalting

The paper discusses the change of phosphogypsum surface state produced by Apatit (Cherepovetsky branch, Vologda region) during calcination at 298-1173 K. The authors have determined the average size of its crystallites and studied the atomic composition of raw materials and finished composites that include crushed rock fraction (5-10 mm), oil bitumen, and polyethylene terephthalate additive (1.0-1.2 wt. %). The compounds present in calcined phosphogypsum have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The granulate was obtained by pelletizing phosphogypsum with a mixture of the above components. The paper presents the assessment of its physical and chemical properties. The granulated composites based on the specified samples of calcined phosphogypsum, bitumen, and melted polyethylene terephthalate waste show great promise for construction road works in European countries in summer and winter, as well as countries with tropical climates.

Breeding Potentials of Bambara Groundnut for Food and Nutrition Security in the Face of Climate Change

Constant production of quality food should be a norm in any community, but climate change, increasing population, and unavailability of land for farming affect food production. As a result, food scarcity is affecting some communities, especially in the developing world. Finding a stable solution to this problem is a major cause of concern for researchers. Synergistic application of molecular marker techniques with next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies can unlock the potentials hidden in most crop genomes for improving yield and food availability. Most crops such as Bambara groundnut (BGN), Winged bean, and African yam bean are underutilized. These underutilized crops can compete with the major crops such as cowpea, soybean, maize, and rice, in areas of nutrition, ability to withstand drought stress, economic importance, and food production. One of these underutilized crops, BGN [Vigna subterranea (L.), Verdc.], is an indigenous African legume and can survive in tropical climates and marginal soils. In this review, we focus on the roles of BGN and the opportunities it possesses in tackling food insecurity and its benefits to local farmers. We will discuss BGN’s potential impact on global food production and how the advances in NGS technologies can enhance its production.

Review : Potensi Aktivitas Anti Virus Dari Produk Alami Lebah Kelulut

Up to present, many deadly diseases are caused by viral infections. Herbal therapy is a preventive effort made by the community to overcome diseases that come from viruses. Antiviral drug resistance is also the reason people consume herbs from natural ingredients. One of the natural products has the potential to come from kelulut bee products consisting of propolis, pollen, and honey. The kelulut bee or stingless bee is a type of bee that is commonly found in countries with tropical climates such as Indonesia, but there is still little scientific information that examines its potential as an antiviral. This study aims to analyze data on the potential antiviral activity of kelulut bee products through the collection of related articles. The research conducted is a literature review, so the research method is carried out by collecting related articles using search engines such as NCBI, Sciencedirect, and Google Schoolar. Kelulut bee products such as propolis, pollen and honey have potential pharmacological activity as antiviral. This anti-viral activity is due to the presence of compounds such as alkaloids, flavones, apigenin derivatives and other compounds which will be discussed further. Natural products from kelulut bees have potential as an alternative to antiviral therapy. It is also recommended to conduct more in-depth research on the potential of kelulut bee natural products to obtain these therapeutic products.

The Effect of Weather Pattern on the Second Wave of Coronavirus: A cross study between cold and tropical climates of France, Italy, Colombia, and Brazil

This study aims to explore and understand the common belief that COVID infection rate is highly dependent on either the outside temperature and/or the humidity. Thirty-six regions/states from two humid-tropical countries, namely Brazil and Colombia and two countries with temperate climate, France and Italy, are studied over the period of October to December. Daily outside temperature, relative humidity and hospitalization/cases are analyzed using Spearman’s correlation. The eighteen cold regions of France and Italy has seen an average drop in temperature from 10°C to 6°C and 17°C to 7°C, respectively, and France recorded an addition of 2.3 million cases, while Italy recorded an addition of 1.8 million cases. Outside temperature did not fluctuate much in tropical countries, but Brazil and Colombia added 4.17 million and 1.1 million cases, respectively. Köppen–Geiger classification showed the differences in weather pattern between the four countries, and the analysis showed that there is very weak correlation between either outside weather and/or relative humidity alone to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adjustable Internal Shading for Home Office Daylighting in Tropical Climates

Home-based workspaces have considerably increased all over the world. Besides, the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 disease forced many people to work from their homes. However, existing residential apartment buildings (ERABs) had been designed for accommodation but not for office works. Low-quality visual environments in ERABs, which have no shading controls on their windows, are evident in tropical climates with extremely high solar radiation. Thus, interior retrofit is significant to provide visual comfort for users in ERABs with low flexibility for modification of their facades. Different interior design variables were simulated by the Radiance-based program to analyse daylighting in a closed-plan room. Before the simulation experiments, field measurement of daylight was performed under a tropical sky to validate the results, and the findings revealed significant Pearson correlations. This paper showed that ERABs are confronting extremely high indoor daylight quantity, up to 10,228 lx, and low quality with intolerable glare. An adjustable model of internal shading, including an integrated Venetian blind with a horizontal light shelf and the window films, was proposed to improve quantitative and qualitative performances of daylighting in tropical regions. This dynamic model could be adjusted to various positions based on daylighting conditions in the buildings. By comparing the simulation results of this model with the base model, indoor illuminance levels could successfully reduce from 32% to 86%; Illuminance Uniformity Ratio (IUR) and Target Daylight Illuminance (TDI) significantly improved up to 180% and 300%, respectively; Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) and CIE Glare Index (CGI) changed from intolerable to imperceptible status. Accordingly, the proposed model can considerably improve daylight quantity and quality in the test room during different times. This study concludes that the dynamic model of internal shadings could provide efficient daylighting, by decreasing the extremely high indoor illuminance and glare in the ERABs in tropical climates.

Nitrate Removal Performance of Denitrifying Woodchip Bioreactors in Tropical Climates

In Australia, declining water quality in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a threat to its marine ecosystems and nitrate (NO3−) from sugar cane-dominated agricultural areas in the coastal catchments of North Queensland is a key pollutant of concern. Woodchip bioreactors have been identified as a potential low-cost remediation technology to reduce the NO3− runoff from sugar cane farms. This study aimed to trial different designs of bioreactors (denitrification walls and beds) to quantify their NO3− removal performance in the distinct tropical climates and hydrological regimes that characterize sugarcane farms in North Queensland. One denitrification wall and two denitrification beds were installed to treat groundwater and subsurface tile-drainage water in wet tropics catchments, where sugar cane farming relies only on rainfall for crop growth. Two denitrification beds were installed in the dry tropics to assess their performance in treating irrigation tailwater from sugarcane. All trialled bioreactors were effective at removing NO3−, with the beds exhibiting a higher NO3− removal rate (NRR, from 2.5 to 7.1 g N m−3 d−1) compared to the wall (0.15 g N m−3 d−1). The NRR depended on the influent NO3− concentration, as low influent concentrations triggered NO3− limitation. The highest NRR was observed in a bed installed in the dry tropics, with relatively high and consistent NO3− influent concentrations due to the use of groundwater, with elevated NO3−, for irrigation. This study demonstrates that bioreactors can be a useful edge-of-field technology for reducing NO3− in runoff to the GBR, when sited and designed to maximise NO3− removal performance.

MEILIODOSIS - AN ENIGMA WITH VARYING ANTIBIOTIC RESPONSE

Melioidosis or Whitmore's disease is an infection of humans and animals caused by aerobic gram negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei. This infection with a wide clinical spectrum is predominantly present in tropical climates, mainly Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. The clinical manifestations include pneumonia, skin ulcers or abscesses, osteomyelitis, prostatitis, encephalomyelitis and fulminant septic shock. The denitive diagnosis is made by a positive culture of Burkholderia pseudomallei. The bacteria is innately resistant to 6 classes of commonly used antibiotics. CDC recommends an intensive phase of intravenous antibiotics for 10 to 14 days followed by eradication therapy with oral antibiotics for 3 – 6 months. The intravenous agents effective against the bacteria are meropenem and ceftazidime. Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid are the oral antimicrobial agents used. Here we present two cases of Melioidosis, at opposite ends of the spectrum with varying antibiotic response. One patient is a young non immunocompromised female and the second an elderly immunocompromised (T2DM) male, both presented with skeletal melioidosis.

Ecophysiological response of Eucalyptus camaldulensis to dust and lead pollution

Background: Air and soil pollution are among the main concerns in urban areas worldwide, and dust and heavy metals are major contributors to environmental pollution. Lead (Pb) is a highly toxic heavy metal that badly affects human health as well as plant's survival and growth. Vegetation can play an important role in ameliorating the effects of these pollutants. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is well adapted and cultivated throughout a wide range of urban environments from temperate to tropical climates. Methods: A 90 days experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of lead (Pb) and dust pollution on the growth performance of young E. camaldulensis plants. Four months old seedlings were treated with a factorial combinations of Pb (0,10 and 20 mg/l applied in irrigation) and dust levels (0,5 and 10 g applied on foliage). Results: All morphological traits (root length, shoot length, stem diameter) and biomass (root and shoot, fresh and dry mass) of E. camaldulensis were significantly reduced when exposed to higher Pb and dust levels. The highest Pb treatments exhibited greater Pb accumulation in plant roots (23.54 ± 1.61 mg/kg), shoots (15.53 ± 1.98 mg/kg), and leaves (13.89 ± 1.49 mg/kg). Dust load on leaves was greater (72.78 ± 8.1 mg/cm2) for those treatments with higher dust and Pb additions compared to the control (16.11 ± 2.0 mg/cm2). Chlorophyll content was greater at the start of the experiment (68.78 ± 0.74 mg.g-1FW) and progressively decreased over time consistently with the increase of Pb and dust levels applied. Conclusions: The results of the experiment, suggest that E. camaldulensis could be successfully grown in minimum to moderate Pb and dust polluted urban environments.

Climatic Variability and Human Leptospirosis Cases in Cartagena, Colombia: A 10-Year Ecological Study

Leptospirosis is an acute febrile disease that mainly affects developing countries with tropical climates. The complexity and magnitude of this disease is attributed to socioeconomic, climatic, and environmental conditions. In this study, in a 10-year period from 2008 to 2017, the relationship between human leptospirosis cases and climatic factors in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia were evaluated. Monthly leptospirosis cases, climatic variables, and macroclimatic phenomena (El Niño and La Niña) were obtained from public datasets. Local climatic factors included temperature (maximum, average, and minimum), relative humidity, precipitation, and the number of precipitation days. Time series graphs were drawn and correlations between cases of leptospirosis and climatic variables considering lags from 0 to 10 months were examined. A total of 360 cases of leptospirosis were reported in Cartagena during the study period, of which 192 (53.3%) were systematically notified between October and December. Several correlations were detected between the number of cases, local climatic variables, and macroclimatic phenomena. Mainly, the increase of cases correlated with increased precipitation and humidity during the La Niña periods. Herein, seasonal patterns and correlations suggest that the climate in Cartagena could favor the incidence of leptospirosis. Our findings suggest that prevention and control of human leptospirosis in Cartagena should be promoted and strengthened, especially in the last quarter of the year.

Vegetative Growth of Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. Saccharata) Due to Difference Doses of Horse Manure Compost and NPK Fertilizer

Sweet corn has a sturdy and strong stem growth and is very suitable for cultivation in tropical climates. Research on the effect of horse manure compost combined with NPK fertilizer on the growth of sweet corn has been done with the aim of obtaining information: (1) the effect of different doses of horse manure compost on the growth of sweet corn, (2) the effect of different doses of NPK fertilizer on the growth of sweet corn, (3) The interaction effect of horse manure compost and NPK fertilizer on sweet corn vegetative growth. The application of NPK fertilizer was carried out with 4 treatment doses while the application of horse manure compost was carried out with 5 treatment doses. In this study, information was obtained (1) the application of NPK fertilizer increased the growth of sweet corn, (2) the application of horse manure compost increased the growth of sweet corn, (3) There was no increase in growth of sweet corn due to the combination treatment of NPK fertilizer and horse manure compost