Degradation Of Natural Environment Research Articles

The Solutions of Natural Environmental Degradation in the Perspective of Tafsir An-Nur

<p>This article examines the solutions to the natural environmental damage from the perspective of <em>Tafsir An-Nur</em> by Teungku Muhammad Hasbi ash-Shiddieqy. The study of natural environmental damage by a contemporary Indonesian <em>mufassir in </em><em>bil-ma’tsur </em>and<em> bir-ra’yi </em>style is essential to understand the local interpretation of Al-Qur’an concerning such damage. Through literature study, this research used a descriptive analysis method to describe the perspectives of <em>Tafsir An-Nur</em> regarding verses on the natural environmental damage and the embedded solutions in <em>al-b</em><em>ī’ah </em>and <em>fas</em><em>ā</em><em>d </em>terms. This article argues that human objectification and greed toward the natural environment are the root of natural environmental damage. Humans’ detachment from the moral-spiritual guidance taught by religion, especially Islam, has led humans to exploitative attitudes toward the natural environment. <em>Tafsir An-Nur</em> offers several solutions to overcome the natural environmental damage, namely interpreting the position of humans as caliphs fairly and wisely, cultivating the <em>qana’ah </em>character, eliminating hypocrisy in behaving, and building mutualistic relationships toward the natural environment. This article shows that efforts to end the damage to the natural environment begin with humans’ attention to moral-spiritual aspects of ecology.</p>

Possible usefulness of shrimp biowaste as a fertilizer in the cultivation of selected species of Miscanthus (Andersson)

Species of the Miscanthus genus are plants of considerable economic importance. During their vegetation, they produce a considerable amount of biomass, which makes them a useful source of bioenergy. They are also highly ornamental and, being highly tolerant of salt in the soil, they are useful both in city greeneries and in the reclamation of degraded areas. Several million tons of shrimps per year are fished and processed at present. This generates a huge amount of biowaste, contributing to the progressive degradation of natural environment. Proper utilization of this waste is, therefore, becoming a burning issue. The present study was carried out in the years 2020–2021. The plant material consisted of two species of the genus Miscanthus, i.e. Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus × giganteus. Dried and ground biowaste, a material of high nutritional value generated during shrimp cleaning, was used as an experimental component of the substrate. The shrimp biowaste was mixed with the soil at a dose of 5%, 10%, and 15% (v/v). The control was a mineral soil without the dried biowaste. No other fertilizer was used during the plant growth. The plant material was harvested at the end of the growing season in the first year, and at full bloom and at the end of the growing season in the second year. The following mineral components were assessed: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Cd, Pb, and Ni. Regardless of the species, the plants growing in the substrates enriched with dried shrimps had a higher content of macro- and micronutrients in their leaves in comparison with the controls. In the next years of cultivation, the content of the assessed mineral components in the leaves seemed to drop. The biowaste generated during shrimp cleaning may successfully be used as fertilizer in the cultivation of Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus × giganteus.

Histomorphometric evaluation of melanomacrophage centers (MMCs) and CD3+ T cells of two morphs of brown trout (Salmo trutta) fed diets with immunostimulants

The brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a salmonid residing in riverine and coastal waters throughout the Northern Hemisphere, whose various populations evolved into distinct ecological morphs, differing in their migratory tendencies and preferred habitats. Unfortunately, due to progressing degradation of natural environment, the conservation of these populations is of growing importance and is undoubtedly a challenging task. Therefore, various means to refine the preparatory protocols for restocking using hatchery-reared fish are being pursued, some of which involve the administration of immunity-boosting substances. The current study assessed the effects of two dietary immunostimulants: Bioimmuno (4% inosine pranobex and 96% β-glucan) and Focus Plus (commercial preparation by Biomar, Denmark) on two morphs of the brown trout – the river trout (S. trutta morpha fario) and the sea trout (S. trutta morpha trutta). Tissue samples were obtained from ∼75 to 100g fish after 0, 2 and 4 weeks of experimental feeding. Multi-factorial analysis of conducted histological measurements of melanomacrophage centers (MMCs) revealed no changes of their parameters within spleens, but showed a decrease of the occupied tissue area and MMC counts in the livers, progressing with time regardless of the applied diet. Immunohistochemical analysis of CD3+ T cells showed their increased recruitment into mucosal folds of pyloric caeca in the 2-week sampling of trouts fed with the diet with 2% Bioimmuno addition, but this effect was not present in the 4-week sampling. When studying all groups jointly within each morph, there was a significant difference in terms of maintained CD3+ T cells levels, as sea trouts showed significantly higher tissue areas occupied by these cells than river trouts, both in the pyloric caeca and hepatic parenchyma. The study revealed that feeding with a diet enriched with Bioimmuno for 2 weeks may be a favorable enhancement of rearing protocols of brown trout stocks prior to their release, but more studies need to be conducted to test the possibility of an even shorter feeding period.

Ecological Reading of Conflicted Self in Jewett’s “A White Heron”

This paper analyzes the nature-culture dichotomy as seen in the story “A White Heron” by Sarah Jewett. The main character of the story, the girl— Sylvia’s relation to nature is reflected through her contact with Mistress Moolly and birds. Her ‘self’ is torn between material greed and love for nature as she plans to tell the secret of the white heron to the hunter and her final decision not to tell the secret to save the bird respectively. When she climbs up the tree, a revelation comes to her. She reflects upon the outstanding beauty she sees in nature which was beyond her imagination. Thus, I analyze the conflicted self of Sylvia and her final take towards nature by applying environmental theories, particularly, Karen Warren’s value dualism, Val Plumwood’s backgrounding, and other relevant theories to explore nature as the major source of literature. There has not been sufficient research on this area in Nepal. This research focuses on why people are unconcerned about plants and animals. The unemployment problem and less awareness of natural heritage in man help deteriorate the entire natural environment. The concepts of community forest and being vegetarian can resolve some problems of natural environment degradation. As a qualitative paper, I use textual analysis as a tool to draw a conclusion. Then I use an analytical interpretivist approach to interpret the data.

Carrying Capacity and Assessment of the Tourism Sector in the South Aegean Region, Greece

Since the early 1950s, Greece has been a popular travel destination providing high-quality tourism services. This was amplified by its diverse landscape, extended sandy beaches, scattered archaeological sites, people’s mentality, and adequate infrastructure. In particular, the south Aegean Archipelago attracts more than six million (6,000,000) visitors annually, approximately 27% of tourist arrivals in Greece. The carrying capacity assessment of the South Aegean region aims to improve the already high standards of the offered tourist services. Seventeen appropriate variables were analyzed to assess and increase tourism attractiveness by alternative products for long-term and sustainable management. Furthermore, the outcomes of the carrying capacity indicators application provide specialized solutions to control the over-tourism impact, mitigate the natural environmental degradation, and establish a roadmap for sustainable development in the study area. The required data were interpreted based on the PAP/RAC 1997 and WTO, enriched with more suitable variables from national and international literature to determine the carrying capacity. Therefore, the selection of seventeen (17) most representative indicators was unavoidable. Finally, the calculation of the different indexes showed that Mykonos and Thira are far above the indicator scale limits and are facing over-tourism issues. Additionally, the numbers of tourists concentrated in the abovementioned islands may accelerate the environmental degradation and, as a result, the tourist product will be downgraded. The set of these seventeen indicators works best since low, obfuscated, or no environmental data are available for the South Aegean region from the official state agency. Alternative tourist development and the extension of the tourist season based on local climatic conditions must be applied to ease the over-concentration and, consequently, the degradation of the tourist product. The large islands do not seem to face significant problems. However, the calculation of CCA will contribute to the decongestion of tourism concentration together with environmental decompression, leading to sustainable development in the South Aegean region.

The Effect of Ecopreneurship on Organisational Performance as Moderated by Firm Size among Selected Foods and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Lagos State and Ogun State, Nigeria

The efficiency and effectiveness of management in Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms (FBMF) can be gauged by their organizational performance. Studies have shown that manufacturing activities in Nigeria have resulted in significant negative environmental consequences, such as degradation of natural environments, depletion of ozone layers, and the release of harmful substances. These outcomes have had a detrimental impact on the performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms, leading to reduced profitability, declining market share, low productivity, and sluggish sales growth. These outcomes suggest a lack of adequate implementation of ecopreneurship practices, including environmental expenditure, corporate environmental responsibility, non-adherence to environmental regulations, eco-innovation, and pro-environmental orientation. Furthermore, based on the reviewed extant literature, it was found that, prior literature gave little consideration to the moderating role of firm size on ecopreneurship and organisational performance nexus. Therefore, this study examined the effects of ecopreneurship on organisational performance of FBMF moderated by the firm size. This study adopted a quantitative approach. Using a survey research design, data were collected from a sample of 415 employees of 10 selected FBMF in Lagos and Ogun States, Nigeria. The respondents were selected using Simple random sampling technique. Hierarchical Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (HMLR) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that, at 0.05 significance level, ecopreneurship had significant effect on organizational performance of selected food and beverage manufacturing firms in Lagos and Ogun States, Nigeria (Adj.R2 = 0.86, F(5, 364) = 459.20, p < 0.05). And the effect of ecopreneurship on organisational performance was not significantly moderated by firm size (β = -0.00, ∆R 2 = 0.00, ∆F = 1.38, p > 0.05). By implication, the findings of this study emphasize the importance of ecopreneurship across all sizes of FBMF. Implementing ecopreneurship practices not only drives performance but also enhances sustainability efforts and provides a competitive advantage in the market. Based on the findings, it was recommended that management of selected FBMF in Lagos and Ogun States should continuously work on policies that can enhance their capacity to adopt environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, audit their existing ecopreneurship environment, identify vulnerable areas, and implement best practices.

Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) through application of indigenous strain Alcaligenes faecalis ISJ128.

The resiliency of plastic products against microbial degradation in natural environment often creates devastating changes for humans, plants, and animals on the earth's surface. Biodegradation of plastics using indigenous bacteria may serve as a critical approach to overcome this resulting environmental stress. In the present work, a polyethylene degrading bacterium Alcaligenes faecalis strain ISJ128 (Accession No. MK968769) was isolated from partially degraded polyethylene film buried in the soil at plastic waste disposal site. The biodegradation studies were conducted by employing various methods such as hydrophobicity assessment of the strain ISJ128, measurement of viability and total protein content of bacterial biofilm attached to the polyethylene surface. The proliferation of bacterial cells on polyethylene film, as indicated by high growth response in terms of protein content (85.50µgmL-1) and viability (1010CFUmL-1), proposed reasonable suitability of our strain A. faecalis ISJ128 toward polyethylene degradation. The results of biodegradation assay revealed significant degradation (10.40%) of polyethylene film within a short period of time (i.e., 60days), whereas no signs of degradation were seen in control PE film. A. faecalis strain ISJ128 also demonstrated a removal rate of 0.0018day-1 along with half-life of 462days. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy studies not only displayed changes on polyethylene surface but also altered level of intensity of functional groups and an increase in the carbonyl indexes justifying the degradation of polyethylene film due to bacterial activity. In addition, the secondary structure prediction (M fold software) of 16SrDNA proved the stable nature of the bacterial strain, thereby reflecting the profound scope of A. faecalis strain ISJ128 as a potential degrader for the eco-friendly disposal of polyethylene waste. Schematic representation of methodology.

Pestle Analysis on Zero Waste Implementation in Crude Palm Oil Industries for Sustainable Development Concept

Nowadays, to match the dynamics of the marketplace and provide the expected product qualification, industrial manufacturing systems are always developing. One of the most issues which have a large influence on the product that would be accepted by the market is environmental issues. Implementing an environmentally friendly concept through the process could be one of the best solutions to counter the issue and it expectedly meets the requirement of the company's operational permit. In regards of the palm oil industry, is an essential source of national income and has an important role in creating opportunities for employment and developing rural areas in Indonesia, yet it also potentially can cause natural environmental degradation. This means the production process of CPO should be in line with ecological guidelines and legislation that could be used to attain more beneficial impacts on global market competitiveness, social and economic development, and better impacts in maintaining the environment as well. This research tried to critically evaluate the implementation of the zero waste technology scheme for Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) mandatory in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) industries and its impact on the company's future position. Using PESTLE analysis then, it can recommend the best possible ways to treat the waste as an excess of the production process

A Raman spectral database of naturally aged plastics: A proof‐of‐concept study for waste plastic sorting

AbstractA Raman spectral database of naturally aged plastics for years is developed aiming to support efficient and proper plastic waste management based on Raman sorting technology. The database is designed as a website and contains the Raman spectral data for 146 plastic waste samples degraded for years in natural environmental conditions. Plastic samples aged for years in indoor conditions are also included along with a few undegraded, common plastics. The natural environmental degradation occurring for years of exposure to sun radiation, terrestrial and aquatic factors, or temperature variations is poorly understood in terms of spectral changes of representative plastics. The samples of choice are represented by the widespread types of plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate, high‐density polyethylene, low‐density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Each plastic sample is described individually on the database's website, and its Raman spectrum is available as a txt file for both educational and analytical purposes. Moreover, the database was validated by external validation of the machine‐learning classifiers: k‐nearest neighbor, support vector machine, logistic regression, random forest, and Naïve Bayes resulting in a classification accuracy between 0.902 and 0.973.

Percepcija zelenog oglašavanja i eko-oznaka od strane potrošača - uticaj na kupovne namere

Due to increasing degradation of natural environment, the importance of environmentally responsible production and consumption, as well as green marketing and sustainable labeling has been growing. The aim of this research is to examine the influence of consumers' perception of green advertising and eco-labels on their intentions to purchase eco-labeled products. A research was carried out by using an online survey method on a convenient sample of 172 consumers in the Republic of Serbia. The results showed that, in spite of respondents reporting their environmental awareness and concern, respondents mostly did not consider the impact of their own purchasing habits on the environment. Obtained results showed the existence of a strong relationship between the respondents' pro-environmental behavior and their current purchase, green advertising receptivity, attitude towards green advertising, perception of eco-labels and purchasing intentions. Also, it was found that respondents who were more responsive to green advertising and had better attitudes towards green advertising were more likely to purchase products which are eco-labeled. On the other hand, respondents' perception of eco-labels did not strongly influence purchasing intentions towards eco-labeled products, which is a consequence of insufficient familiarity of respondents with environmental product labeling. These research findings have valuable implications for companies defining strategies to include environmental appeals in their marketing communication, as well as for public institutions in Serbia for the further planning of activities related to encouragement of environmentally friendly production and consumption.

Environmental Security Policies of the Russian Federation

Since the earliest times of history, humanity has been known to be fighting an existential war against nature. Although man’s struggle against his natural environment has not caused severe damage to nature for centuries, human-induced natural environmental degradation has begun to be seen with modernization, the effect of which was experienced to a great extent in the 20th century. With both population growth and technological developments, humanity has achieved significant gains in its struggle for survival against nature, but these gains have turned against humanity itself with the irreversible deterioration of nature. This degradation, which started with environmental pollution in the past and resulted in climate changes today, has been taken care of by modern states, which have significant power in the governance of people. These modern states, which previously had a security perspective through their relations, have started to take steps as environmental problems harm their legitimacy and citizens. States had to come together to solve this common problem no matter how different they were in government type and ideology. Since the day it left the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation has not refrained from taking national steps toward the global environmental security regime. Although like many states, the fight against environmental problems has made mistakes and shortcomings, it has cooperated internationally for various reasons. The most important reason is that the Russian Federation is at the top of the list of states polluting nature. But apart from this, environmental security has been the area of interest of the Kremlin administration due to its geopolitical and geostrategic interests in the international system. Therefore, it has set targets on environmental security in documents such as foreign policy and security concepts adopted since the early 1990s. This study aims to examine the national and international environmental policies of the Russian Federation on global climate change. For this reason, firstly, a brief introduction to the subject of environmental security will be made, and the documents containing the political and security perspective of the Russian Federation will be discussed in the next section. In the last part, it will try to summarize what kind of international contribution and cooperation the Russian Federation has made in solving environmental problems.

An Ultra-Sensitive Comamonas thiooxidans Biosensor for the Rapid Detection of Enzymatic Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Degradation.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a prevalent synthetic polymer that is known to contaminate marine and terrestrial environments. Currently, only a limited number of PET-active microorganisms and enzymes (PETases) are known. This is in part linked to the lack of highly sensitive function-based screening assays for PET-active enzymes. Here, we report on the construction of a fluorescent biosensor based on Comamonas thiooxidans strain S23. C. thiooxidans S23 transports and metabolizes TPA, one of the main breakdown products of PET, using a specific tripartite tricarboxylate transporter (TTT) and various mono- and dioxygenases encoded in its genome in a conserved operon ranging from tphC-tphA1. TphR, an IclR-type transcriptional regulator is found upstream of the tphC-tphA1 cluster where TPA induces transcription of tphC-tphA1 up to 88-fold in exponentially growing cells. In the present study, we show that the C. thiooxidans S23 wild-type strain, carrying the sfGFP gene fused to the tphC promoter, senses TPA at concentrations as low as 10 μM. Moreover, a deletion mutant lacking the catabolic genes involved in TPA degradation thphA2-A1 (ΔtphA2A3BA1) is up to 10,000-fold more sensitive and detects TPA concentrations in the nanomolar range. This is, to our knowledge, the most sensitive reporter strain for TPA and we demonstrate that it can be used for the detection of enzymatic PET breakdown products. IMPORTANCE Plastics and microplastics accumulate in all ecological niches. The construction of more sensitive biosensors allows to monitor and screen potential PET degradation in natural environments and industrial samples. These strains will also be a valuable tool for functional screenings of novel PETase candidates and variants or monitoring of PET recycling processes using biocatalysts. Thereby they help us to enrich the known biodiversity and efficiency of PET degrading organisms and enzymes and understand their contribution to environmental plastic degradation.

Micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of degradation-resistant organic microfossils; Influence of preservation environment and phylogeny

To gain more insight into the effect of early diagenetic processes in different redox environments on the molecular characteristics of degradation resistant particulate organic matter, the molecular cyst wall characteristics of the closely related dinoflagellates Impagidinium aculeatum and I. patulum from oxic and anoxic sedimentary environments in the Madeira Abyssal Plain F-turbidite and in the surface sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea have been analysed with micro-FTIR spectroscopy. Both species have cysts that are representatives of particulate organic matter being extremely resistant against degradation in natural environments. Their walls primarily consist of a carbohydrate-based polymer. Spectral differences could not be observed between cysts from oxic and anoxic environments, neither from different areas nor from different geological times. However, we identify consistent compositional differences between both species. Compared to I. patulum, cyst walls of I. aculeatum contain more C-O probably of secondary alcohols that might imply a slightly higher resistance to decay of I. patulum. Comparison with cyst species that represent particular organic matter being extremely sensitive and slightly resistant against aerobic degradation in natural settings reveals that cysts walls of the most vulnerable species show C=N, N-H, N-O, C-N bending/stretching, as well as the presence of C=O and C-O bounds. Cyst species that are somewhat less sensitive have a strong indication of the presence of nitrogen in their macromolecules. More resistant species lack nitrogen whereas the most resistant cyst species I. aculeatum and I. patulum show low amounts of C=O.

Environmental taxes in the European Union and their use as a means of environmental restoration

Environmental degradation caused by intense human activities has allured scientific and social concerns. Environmental taxes are a part of a wider policy context integrating various tools, including pricing instruments, subsidies, and investment in public infrastructure. Environmental taxes are the only fiscal policy tool the revenue which can be used for environmental protection purposes. They are used in modern societies, as means of optimizing consumers’ and producers’ behavior. These taxes generate revenues that can be used by governments to invest in environmental protection projects or in the effective management of natural resources. Eastern European countries’ environmental taxation regime, is a successful example since appropriate policies and actions were used for environmental degradation resilience along with the formerly degraded land restoration and funding environmental information dissemination programs for local communities. The present work aims to unveil successful practices adopted related to the implementation of environmental taxation in European countries and the use of their revenues in projects and actions to protect the environment and limit the anthropogenic impacts. In addition, a comparative analysis of individual EU countries efficiency in the use of taxation for mitigation of natural environment degradation is conducted with significant findings for policymakers.

Changes in Energy Sector Strategies: A Literature Review

Sustainable development (SD) can indicate the direction of the development of modern organizations’ transition and transformation strategies in the energy sector. Currently, in most countries, the main challenge for the energy sector’s strategies is to deal with energy security. The implementation of SD induces changes both in strategy and technology. The strategies are based on the technological transition toward renewable energy sources (RES). The aim of this paper is to explore business management literature dedicated to the transformation and transition strategies in the energy sector. The adopted methods are a systematic literature review (SLR) accompanied by a classical literature review (CLR) in Scopus database exploration. A literature review is developed in VOSviewer software and keyword co-occurrences analysis allowed to identify the main changes of direction in energy sector transformation strategies. The literature was explored by the 26 queries which resulted with 11 bibliometric maps. The analysis of the bibliometric maps was a challenge due to the cross-disciplinary strategic directions of development presented in indexed publications in the Scopus database. The identification of the changes in energy sector strategies is important because of its reliance on depleting resources and natural environment degradation. As a result of this paper, there is a visible shift of the trend in explored scientific publication from not only technological-based solutions but also towards managerial and organizational practices to achieve sustainability in the energy sector. This paper, besides the results, presents the theoretical contribution and managerial recommendations for business practices and addresses future research avenues. There are discussed implications of the presented analysis for further research.

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)-Based Biodegradable Polymer from Agromyces indicus: Enhanced Production, Characterization, and Optimization.

Recently, there has been significant interest in bio-based degradable plastics owing to their potential as a green and sustainable alternative to synthetic plastics due to their biodegradable properties. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a biodegradable polymer that is produced by bacteria and archaea as carbon and energy reserves. Due to its rapid degradation in natural environments, it can be considered a biodegradable plastic alternative. In the present study, a dye-based procedure was used to screen PHB-producing bacteria isolated from mangrove soil samples. Among the seven isolates, Agromyces indicus (A. indicus), identified by means of 16S rRNA analysis, accumulated the highest amount of PHB. The extracted polymer was characterized by a UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and for the presence of the phbB gene, which confirmed the structure of the polymer as PHB. The maximum PHB production by A. indicus was achieved after 96 h of incubation at a pH of 8.0 and 35 °C in the presence of 2% NaCl, with glucose and peptone as the carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. The strain was found to be capable of accumulating PHB when various cheap agricultural wastes, such as rice, barley, corn, and wheat bran, were used as the carbon sources. The response surface methodology (RSM) through the central composite design (CCD) for optimizing the PHB synthesis was found to be highly efficient at augmenting the polymer yields. As a result of the optimum conditions obtained from the RSM, this strain can increase the PHB content by approximately 1.4-fold when compared with an unoptimized medium, which would substantially lower the production cost. Therefore, the isolate A. indicus strain B2 may be regarded as one of the best candidates for the industrial production of PHB from agricultural wastes, and it can remove the environmental concerns associated with synthetic plastic.

Model Test Study on the Enhancement of Ecological Self-Repairing Ability of Surface Slope Soil by New Polymer Composites.

Plant-based ecological protection is one of the effective methods to improve the stability of slope soils. However, plants need a stable growth environment and water supply. Although it has been demonstrated that polymer materials can effectively enhance the stability and water retention of soils, their improvement mechanism and long-term effects are yet to be clear. In this paper, we use a new polymer composite material (ADNB), an optimized compound of nano-aqueous binder (NAB) and super absorption resin (SAR), to conduct outdoor model tests to study the effects of different ADNB ratios on soil compactness, biochemical properties, and plant growth at longer time scales, and to explore its action law and mechanism of enhancing the ecological self-repairing ability of surface slope soil. The results show that ADNB can effectively improve the soil structure, increase the compactness of the soil, increase the organic matter content, microbial population and available nutrient content in the soil, thus promoting plant growth. The adsorption and agglomeration effect of the NAB in ADNB on soil particles and its degradation in natural environment can be observed by SEM. In summary, ADNB can not only effectively enhance the ecological self-repairing ability of surface slope soil, but also has good environmental friendliness and can be completely degraded under natural conditions without additional adverse effects on soil and environment.

Verification of the probability of elastomers degradation in natural environments

Abstract A wide range of elastomers allows to manufacture products that meet high demands of consumers. They are prepared from a mixture of several rubbers, rubber chemicals, additives and reinforcing materials (fibres), which allows you to obtain the desired properties of the products. The other components of rubber compounds are fillers, carbon blacks and plasticizers. Rubber chemicals supplement the mixture in small quantities of related products, which affect vulcanization and regulate their properties, so they have an irreplaceable role in the preparation of rubber products. The aim of experimental part is to assess the properties of the degradation environment on samples of rubber composites to change their properties. The result of the performed mechanical tests to evaluate and compare the obtained values of mechanical properties of rubber compounds and to predict the possibility of biological degradation of the tested material.

Geoprocessing and Landscape Ecology for Assessment Fragmentation and Connectivity of the Habitats of the Microregion of Ceres, Goiás (Brazil)

This study aimed to map and evaluate the evolution of habitat fragmentation between 2009 and 2018, using the Microregion of Ceres (Goiás) as a sample reference, using principles of Landscape Ecology. The methodology comprised the mapping of the fragments in the two years analyzed, using the OLI/Landsat 8 sensor, using scenes 222/70 and 222/71. The SPRING 5.2 software was used, where the supervised classification was performed, applying the semi-automatic process. The computational algorithm applied to classify the scenes was Maxver, which classifies pixel by pixel and groups the information of each one into homogeneous regions. After extracting the fragments of native vegetation, the methodology proposed by Juvanhol et al. (2011), in which the fragments were grouped into classes: Very Small (MP) ≤5 hectares; Small (P) ≥5.01 and ≤10 hectares; Medium (M) ≥10.01 and ≤100 hectares and Large (G) ≥100.01 hectares. For the analysis based on metrics in Landscape Ecology, the ArcGis 9.2 Patch Analyst extension was used. The results showed the expansion of vegetation cover areas in the study area, concentrated on tops of hills, APP and legal reserves. However, they pointed out intense fragmentation of native vegetation, which hinders the performance of fragments as habitats. It is considered that, from the contemporary problem of degradation of natural environments to the detriment of economic development, studies like this are necessary in order to identify existing environmental problems and propose strategies to minimize and mitigate ecological imbalances.

Delineation of urban expansion influences urban heat islands and natural environment using remote sensing and GIS-based in industrial area.

Land transformation monitoring is essential for controlling the anthropogenic activities that could cause the degradation of natural environment. This study investigated the urban heat island (UHI) effect at the Asansol and Kulti blocks of Paschim Bardhaman district, India. The increasing land surface temperature (LST) can cause the UHI effect and affect the environmental conditions in the urban area. The vulnerability of the UHI effect was measured quantitatively and qualitatively by using the urban thermal field variation index (UTFVI). The land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics are identified by utilizing the remote sensing and maximum likelihood supervised classification techniques for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, respectively. The results indicated a decrease around 19.05 km2, 15.47 km2, and 9.86 km2 for vegetation, agricultural land, and grassland, respectively. Meanwhile, there is an increase of 35.69 km2 of the built-up area from the year 1990 to 2020. The highest LST has increased by 11.55 °C, while the lowest LST increased by 8.35 °C from 1990 to 2020. The correlation analyses showed negative relationship between LST and vegetation index, while positive correlation was observed for built-up index. Hotspot maps have identified the spatio-temporal thermal variations in Mohanpur, Lohat, Ramnagar, Madhabpur, and Hansdiha where these cities are mostly affected by the urban expansion and industrialization developments. This study will be helpful to urban planners, stakeholders, and administrators for monitoring the anthropological activities and thus ensuring a sustainable urban development.