Review of NZEB Criteria: Design of Life Containers in Operations Area

The Spanish Ministry of Defense is currently attempting to reduce the amount of energy that is consumed by its military bases and has therefore raised concerns about how to make their facilities more energy efficient. To fulfill this objective, the Spanish army has developed various studies and projects, as well as a technical prescription sheet that defines the thermal transmittance values of the materials that are to be used to construct the different elements of the containers that make up the temporary housing units at Spanish military camps. Both governments and private entities have developed initiatives that are aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which are classified into two groups: those aimed at the development of mandatory building codes and those that are based on voluntary certification programs. The use of passive strategies is one of the key actions that is being implemented to achieve the NZEB category, as its first requirement is to be a “very low energy consumption building”. This paper compares the energy efficiency requirements of the tents and containers that are used in military camps and the energy-efficient design requirements that are demanded by the energy efficiency standards for buildings in the civil sector. Through this comparison, we determine how energy efficient the current living spaces in military camps are in order to define strategies that can be implemented to improve the design requirements of these living spaces so to reduce the consumption and operation logistics and to improve both operability and safety in military camp facilities.

China’s Increasing Investments and Relationships with Sea Line Countries of Indian Ocean: A Geopolitical Strategy

This study aims to investigate how String of Pearls is referred to as a geopolitical strategy adopted by China and a threat to India as India is a growing regional power? China has invested a lot in building its military bases network in the countries of sea lines that are falling on the Indian Ocean. China has also developed commercial facilities and its military bases, which refer to as String of Pearls. This study will find the interest of China in expanding its engagements in the region of the Indian Ocean. China is investing heavily in the construction of ports, roads, military, and commercial bases along with so many huge products in the countries providing China bases to increase its chain of String of Pearls. The study will identify how these investments made by China are paying off back to China. This research paper will cover Chinese investment in Pakistan, Myanmar, Djibouti, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Myanmar, Massawa port Eritrea, Iran, Lamu port Kenya, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc.

British-Maltese Relations in Light of the Bilateral Military Agreement 1971

Since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the island of Malta has represented one of the most important countries and islands allied to Britain in the Mediterranean basin, after it extended its influence to it, and made it one of the strategic military bases in its expansionist policy and for many centuries, and after World War II and the emergence of the so-called socialist and capitalist camps or It is also expressed in the eastern camp represented by the Warsaw Pact led by the Soviet Union, and the western camp represented by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization led by the United States of America and its ally Britain, and with the increase in the importance of the Middle East region, and the flow of oil in it in commercial quantities, the importance of the island of Malta for Britain has increased, so it sought with all its diplomatic efforts To conclude a set of military agreements, alliances and treaties, and as a result of the importance of these agreements in directing the compass of Britain’s foreign policy, we had the desire to discuss the topic (British-Maltese relations in light of the bilateral military agreement 1971). The subject of the research was divided into an introduction and two sections. In the introduction, we discussed briefly the British control of the important sea lanes, which represented one of its strategic goals, and how it imposed its control over those lanes for many centuries. As for the first topic, it was due to the research necessity of several axes. The first axis was discussed The most important reasons that prompted the Maltese government to sign the bilateral military agreement with Britain, and one of the most prominent of those reasons was the political and social role of the Roman Catholic Church, and then economic factors and their impact on the signing of the agreement, and with regard to the second axis, it was about the signing of the bilateral military agreement in July 1971. The third axis discussed the terms of the agreement, which were in its entirety in the interest of the Maltese government, and the second topic talked about the position of the NATO countries on that agreement, especially the British government and the American administration.

The Geography of Demilitarisation: Do Regional Economic Disparities Affect the Spatial Distribution of Military Base Closures?

Very few researchers have focused on the question of: if and to what extent, regional economic disparities affect military base closures. In this paper, we aim to explain regional patterns of military base closures in the Czech Republic, a country that has experienced a sharp decline in military employment and expenditures since the beginning of 1990s. Three groups of predictors of closure were considered: local (size, age, location and hierarchical position of the military base); regional (wages, unemployment, city size, the initial level of militarisation of the district); and national-level predictors (geostrategic priorities and restructuring of the Czech Armed Forces). Our research is informed by the theory of public choice and its application to the decision-making processes concerning military base closures and realignments. We employed a combination of regression models to determine which group of the above-mentioned factors affected the spatial distribution of military bases in the period 1994–2005. While geostrategic factors (such as distance from the border with West Germany) and restructuring of the army (type of a military base) were the most important, regional economic disparities showed no significant correlation with the intensity of military base closures/downsizing. We did not demonstrate that military bases in economically lagging regions had been systematically protected in the Czech Republic.

Chemistry, lung toxicity and mutagenicity of burn pit smoke-related particulate matter

Background Open burning of anthropogenic sources can release hazardous emissions and has been associated with increased prevalence of cardiopulmonary health outcomes. Exposure to smoke emitted from burn pits in military bases has been linked with respiratory illness among military and civilian personnel returning from war zones. Although the composition of the materials being burned is well studied, the resulting chemistry and potential toxicity of the emissions are not. Methods Smoke emission condensates from either flaming or smoldering combustion of five different types of burn pit-related waste: cardboard; plywood; plastic; mixture; and mixture/diesel, were obtained from a laboratory-scale furnace coupled to a multistage cryotrap system. The primary emissions and smoke condensates were analyzed for a standardized suite of chemical species, and the condensates were studied for pulmonary toxicity in female CD-1 mice and mutagenic activity in Salmonella (Ames) mutagenicity assay using the frameshift strain TA98 and the base-substitution strain TA100 with and without metabolic activation (S9 from rat liver). Results Most of the particles in the smoke emitted from flaming and smoldering combustion were less than 2.5 µm in diameter. Burning of plastic containing wastes (plastic, mixture, or mixture/diesel) emitted larger amounts of particulate matter (PM) compared to other types of waste. On an equal mass basis, the smoke PM from flaming combustion of plastic containing wastes caused more inflammation and lung injury and was more mutagenic than other samples, and the biological responses were associated with elevated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels. Conclusions This study suggests that adverse health effects of burn pit smoke exposure vary depending on waste type and combustion temperature; however, burning plastic at high temperature was the most significant contributor to the toxicity outcomes. These findings will provide a better understanding of the complex chemical and combustion temperature factors that determine toxicity of burn pit smoke and its potential health risks at military bases.

The reuse of military campgrounds following the interventions of environmental design and the grant of their use to the contemporary city. The case study of “the Velissario military campground in Ioannina”

The current case study presents a proposal for the redevelopment and reuse of the Velissario military campground in Ioannina, in western Greece. The military base is considered a prohibited area and an urban void completely cut off from the city. Firstly, the concept of sustainable development, the legislative framework, the historical background of environmental protection and examples of the reuse of other military bases worldwide are mentioned. Secondly, the significant characteristics of the surrounding area and the interventions according to the environmental design for the sustainable development of the city are presented, such as the preservation of the existing greenery, the creation of new green areas and their connection with the adjacent Pyrsinella park, for the creation of a Metropolitan Park, as well as the construction of a lake. Furthermore, the creation of sports and cultural facilities, hiking and cycling trails, the preservation of the necessary existing military buildings and the construction of new buildings is suggested. Environmentally friendly structural materials and renewable energy resources will be utilized. Both water and litter created in the park will be recycled and reused so that they compose the Prototype Park of Sufficient Environmental Management that we aspire to create.

Djiboutian sovereignty: worlding global security networks

The research problem this article addresses is whether the unique confluence of overseas security forces in a single territorial space through the leasing of land for foreign military bases compromises the state's sovereignty. We study Djibouti's practice of renting land to military powers from an analytical position that is diametrically opposed to the literature on the ‘scramble’ for Africa and often erroneous assumptions of an erosion of sovereignty. Using the concept of ‘worlding’, we argue in this article that instead of reading ‘military base diplomacy’ as eroding and undermining Djibouti's sovereignty, this case demonstrates the ways in which ‘the art of being global’ underpins new forms of territoriality and unexpected forms of locality in Africa. Consequently, we maintain that African experiences of sovereignty offer the challenges, along with the rewards, of greater analytical depth to International Relations scholarship while expanding our understanding of different empirical cases beyond the western-centric accounts of sovereignty in line with an abstract ideal that does not tell us much about the world, postcolonial experiences and global politics. Through a case-study approach, we focus specifically on the stark distinctions between Japan and China, which both have their respective first postwar overseas military bases in the country, and the Djiboutian state itself, in terms of how each are interpreting and practicing sovereignty to fit their own national narrative, international status and domestic legal frameworks. The findings challenge simplistic analyses of African states as victims of exploitative Great Powers, gradually and repeatedly being stripped of their sovereignty.