Effective Protection Measures Research Articles

The Effect of Vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech or CoronaVac on Disease Prognosis Among Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.

The Turkish Ministry of Health offered two types of vaccines by January 13, 2021, which are CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech, China) and Pfizer-BioNTech. We aimed to describe the impact of the CoronaVac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines on clinical outcomes among hospitalized patients during a six-month period. We included patients older than 18 years old and hospitalized because of COVID-19 when the vaccines were available. We conducted the study at Koç University Hospital and American Hospital between June 2021, six months after the vaccination started, and December 2021. In total, 444 RT-PCR confirmed hospitalized patients were included. The mean age of the patients was 59 (standard deviation [SD]=18), and 42.8% were female. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (39%), followed by diabetes mellitus (27%), cardiovascular diseases (18.4%), chronic lung diseases (14.6%), cancer (9.2%), and chronic renal diseases (8%). In multivariate analysis, no vaccination (OR=4.7, CI=2.25-10.06; p<0.001), age >65 (OR=5.2, CI=2.25-11.98; p<0.001), cancer (OR=7.6, CI=3.04-19.31; p<0.001), and chronic kidney disease (OR=3.1, CI=1.14-8.74; p=0.026) significantly increased mortality in COVID-19 patients. Eighteen percent of patients were in the intensive care unit (ICU). One hundred eighty-one patients (40.8%) were non-vaccinated before their admission, and their mortality (17.6%) was higher compared to the patients who were vaccinated with at least one type of vaccine (p=0.002). None of the patients who received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines died. Among the inpatients with COVID-19, the predictors for mortality were being unvaccinated, older age, cancer, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular diseases. Among the vaccinated inpatients, having two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the only effective protective measure against mortality, and two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine had no significant effect in preventing fatality.

The Modern Nile Delta Continental Shelf, with an Evolving Record of Relict Deposits Displaced and Altered by Sediment Dynamics

The most extensive coverage of surficial sediment samples collected to date on Egypt’s Nile Delta coast and shelf is needed to better define sediment dispersal patterns across this setting’s rapidly eroding margin. Changes in time are now induced by River Nile sediment cutoff by dams, sea level rise, marked shelf subsidence, and regional climate changes, which have altered the amounts and components of sediments; these require replacement, along with the implementation of more effective coastal protection measures. Multiple computer-generated offshore maps depict the distributions and proportions of sand, silt, and mud; the mean grain size and standard deviation (sorting); heavy mineral concentrations; and carbonate content. Heavy mineral lobes at the coast and offshore identify former Nile branch sites. Channel lobes extending seaward resulted from their progradational phase and from the delta’s altered sedimentation from the early to late Holocene. The progressive deposition and erosion of these fossil fluvial lobes, and of two active Nile channels, selectively removed their quartz and less dense minerals, thus concentrating heavy minerals on the coast and inner shelf. The prolonged dispersal of original sediment effluence from relict and recent Nile tributaries induced variable depositional patterns on the present shelf. These coastal depocenters, along with extensive sand, silt, and mud from shelf sediments, were reworked further seaward and dispersed by bottom currents, thus masking most previous onshore-to-offshore transport patterns. The major surficial features document long-term responses to the diverse dispersal that influenced the shoreline to the outer shelf deposits from the Pleistocene to the present.

Development of an Approach to Assess the Consequences of Fuel-Air Mixtures Explosions Taking into Account the Development Features

Introduction. In the study of the problem of the impact of negative factors from explosions at gas stations on people and the infrastructure of settlements, a probabilistic approach is often used. The limitation of this approach is that when it is implemented, the concept of clutter of the surrounding space does not reflect the relationship between the area occupied by buildings and the total area affected by the shock wave. Therefore, this article is devoted to the development and justification of an approach to assessing the consequences of explosions of fuel-air mixtures (FA), taking into account the peculiarities of the development of settlements. The work objective is to develop an approach for assessing the consequences of explosions of fuel-air mixtures, taking into account the development features. The solution to this problem will facilitate decision-making for the development of effective protective measures for surrounding objects.Materials and Methods. The authors have conducted an analytical review of the research results in the field of study and the existing approaches to assessing the consequences of explosions at filling stations (FS) and gas stations (GS), based on the specific conditions of their location on the territory of settlements.Results. An approach has been developed to assess the consequences of explosions of fuel-air mixtures, taking into account the development features. The main causes, types of accidents with an explosion at a gas station and the scale of their consequences have been identified. Along with the theoretical justification of the issue under consideration, the authors provide a detailed description of the applied research methodology, as well as the characteristics of the objects of research, taking into account their location. When calculating the consequences of explosions of fuel-air mixtures, it was proposed for the first time to use a development density factor equal to the ratio of the area of the existing facilities to the total area of the territory affected by the shock wave. This approach justifies the need to apply additional protective measures in the areas where gas stations are located. The methods of analysis used are described in detail with justification of the reliability of the measurement results.Discussion and Conclusion. The application of the approach proposed in the article for calculating the consequences of an explosion of fuel-air mixtures, taking into account the development density, makes it possible to control the location and the level of risk from possible explosions at gas stations in a real situation. The proposed approach for calculating the consequences allows you to quickly assess possible risks in real time and plan specific measures to minimize them in accordance with the existing situation in the area of the gas station.

Ultraviolet light and natural weathering vs. the compression strength of laminated wood

Effects of protective measures were evaluated relative to the compression strength in the direction parallel to the grain of laminated veneer wood (LVL). For this purpose, laminated panels were prepared from Scots pine, Oriental beech, Castanea sativa, and sessile oak wood veneer by gluing them with Desmodur vinyl trie ketonol acetate (D-VTKA), polyvinyl-acetate (PVAc) dispersion D4 adhesive, resorcinol formaldehyde (RF), and melamine formaldehyde (MF). The samples were impregnated with a mixture of wax, linseed oil, and coated with a synthetic-based translucent varnish. The control samples (without the treatment described above), impregnated samples, and varnished samples were kept in the external environment for 1 y and in an ultraviolet (UV) environment for 240 h. The samples were tested to determine the air-dried density, retention amount, and compression strength. The results indicated that, in terms of outdoor conditions, the varnished proceeding provided better protection compared to the impregnated proceeding. The best result for compression strength was obtained on the Oriental beech samples with RF and MF glues. The ratio of the UV environment to represent the external environment was 89%.

Experimental Quantification of Fire Damage Inside Pyrotechnic Stores

A fire inside a pyrotechnic store can lead to simultaneous initiation of the stored articles, regardless of their risk category, producing a shockwave caused by the released gas pressure. In fact, several accidents have occurred throughout history in pyrotechnic stores. This indicates the high risk posed by pyrotechnics due to their flammability. Due to the lack of global or European legislation on guidelines for the design of pyrotechnic stores and associated risk assessment, the present research aims to analyze the consequences of a fire inside pyrotechnic stores and to establish globally possible effective prevention and protection measures in order to reduce explosion risk and avoid future accidents. The observed consequences and the reflected pressure (pressure measured when the wave is incident perpendicularly on the transducer) measured during fire tests inside a pyrotechnic store indicated the need to minimize the potential occurrence of fires. The limitation of the maximum permissible load, considering the volume of the store (kg/m3), reduces consequence severity in the event of an accident. However, the maximum permissible levels should be so low as to make their use for retail sales of pyrotechnic products unviable. The solution is the use of automatic fire detection and extinguishing systems with a high cooling capacity in order to prevent the spread to nearby packaging by rapid detection.

Dendritic cell activation and cytokine response in vaccine breakthrough TBE patients after in vitro stimulation with TBEV.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a viral infection of the human central nervous system caused by the TBE virus (TBEV). The most effective protective measure against TBE is vaccination. Despite the highly immunogenic vaccine, cases of vaccine breakthroughs (VBTs) occur. One of the first targets of infection is dendritic cells (DC), which represent a fundamental bridge between innate and adaptive immunity through antigen presentation, costimulation, and cytokine production. Therefore, we investigated the activation and maturation of DCs and cytokine production after in vitro TBEV stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from VBT and unvaccinated TBE patients. Our results showed that the expression of HLA-DR and CD86 on DCs, was upregulated to a similar extent in both vaccinated and unvaccinated TBE patients but differed in cytokine production after stimulation with TBEV. PBMCs from patients with VBT TBE responded with lower levels of IFN-α and the proinflammatory cytokines IL-12 (p70) and IL-15 after 24- and 48-hour in vitro stimulation with TBEV, possibly facilitating viral replication and influencing the development of cell-mediated immunity. On the other hand, significantly higher levels of IL-6 in addition to an observed trend of higher expression of TNF-α measured after 6 days of in vitro stimulation of PBMC could support disruption of the blood-brain barrier and promote viral and immune cell influx into the CNS, leading to more severe disease in VBT TBE patients.

84 Effectiveness of Protective Measures—Diesel Exhaust in Garages of Fire Engines Vehicles and Rescue Services

Abstract Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of soot particles and many gaseous components. Meanwhile, occupational exposure limits (OEL) have been derived for many of these constituents in Europe. Normally, vehicles of fire brigades and rescue units are parked in garages. To ensure readiness for action, they are connected to the power supply system. If they vehicles move out or return to the garage employees may be exposed to diesel engine emission. We have performed measurements in 7 emergency rescue services and 5 fire-fighting stations to assess the exposure to hazardous substances and compare the effectiveness of protective measures.During the measuremnts the different exhaus emission standards and different type of technical protection measure have been compared. The results of the measurements show, that exposure of the employees should be considered as short-term exposure. The most critical substances are diesel soot particles and nitrogen oxides. Especially, for nitrogen monoxide exceedings of the short-term exposure limit value (STELV) have been measured. It was found, that exposure to diesel soot particles decreased from exhaust emission standard EURO 1 to EURO 6. On the other hand, exposure to nitrogen oxides increased for the newer emission standards. The most effective technical protective measure is a trailing extraction system, which should be applied when driving into tho garage, during parking up to moving out, when it should be removed automatically. Alternatively, a vertical transverse system may be effective, but should be assessed for each garage under worst case conditions.

Protecting healthcare personnel and patients over 3years of COVID-19 : Effective protection by masks and hygiene: What else was effective?

Healthcare professionals, particularly those in test centers, laboratories, or specialized COVID-19 wards, are in danger of becoming infected. Patients with special underlying health conditions are at an increased risk of getting very sick, being hospitalized, or dying from COVID-19. Age is a leading risk factor in this context. Currently, FFP2 (Filtering Facepiece 2, European standard), N95 (US standard), and KN95 (Chinese standard) face masks remain the simplest measure of protection. Coronavirus warning apps installed on smartphones have been recommended for anonymous contact tracing and quickly disrupting chains of infection. Preventive testing two to three times per week for healthcare personnel, on the day of hospital admission for patients, and upon facility entry for visitors has been routinely performed or has been requested from external test centers in most medical institutions. However, vaccination is regarded the most effective protective measure against COVID-19. The general recommendation of the World Health Organization is that countries continue to work toward vaccinating at least 70% of their populations, prioritizing the vaccination of 100% of healthcare workers and 100% of the most vulnerable groups, including people who are over 60years of age and those who are immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions. The most vulnerable individuals among patients and healthcare workers should be identified and then their vaccination status should be checked and, if necessary, optimized by booster administration. In Germany, seasonal and institutional recommendations for individual protection by face masks, for hygiene measures, and for preventive testing must follow the updated coronavirus protection regulations (Coronavirus-Schutzverordnungen).

Consumer Protection in India through Criminalisation of Consumer Grievances

Every person is consumer in one or other way; even a person who is seller in one transaction, in another transaction he is consumer. Consumer grievances now days have become very serious and rate is also alarming which with passing time are becoming more graver challenge. In such situations now consumer grievances do not remain only a matter to be remedied under civil justice dispension system but for effective tackling need is to under criminal justice system. In case of consumer grievances two pronged actions are required, for providing justice to individual injured consumer there should be civil remedy and to provide justice to consumers collective, thereby, to society there should be providing of criminal justice. Preventive measures are most effective measures for consumer protection which can be attained by criminalisation of consumer grievances. Prescription and infliction of punishment creates deterrence in potential wrongdoers, thereby, they get lesson for future behaviour. In India sufficient penal provisions are provided for criminalisation of consumer grievances; criminal justice system through effective enforcement and infliction of punishment may tackle the problem of consumer grievances and attain the goal of consumer protection. This paper will analyse Indian laws to find out use of measure of criminalisation of consumer grievances for consumer protection. Keywords: Adulteration; Consumer; Consumerism; Consumer grievance; Criminal Justice System; Deterrence; False property mark; Preventive measure; Spurious

Volcanic-associated ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea: a systematic map and an interactive tool to support their conservation.

Hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, pockmarks and seamounts are widely distributed on the ocean floor. Over the last fifty years, the knowledge about these volcanic-associated marine ecosystems has notably increased, yet available information is still limited, scattered, and unsuitable to support decision-making processes for the conservation and management of the marine environment. Here we searched the Scopus database and the platform Web of Science to collect the scientific information available for these ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea. The collected literature and the bio-geographic and population variables extracted are provided into a systematic map as an online tool that includes an updated database searchable through a user-friendly R-shiny app. The 433 literature items with almost one thousand observations provided evidence of more than 100 different volcanic-associated marine ecosystem sites, mostly distributed in the shallow waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Less than 30% of these sites are currently included in protected or regulated areas. The updated database available in the R-shiny app is a tool that could guide the implementation of more effective protection measures for volcanic-associated marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea within existing management instruments under the EU Habitats Directive. Moreover, the information provided in this study could aid policymakers in defining the priorities for the future protection measures needed to achieve the targets of the UN Agenda 2030.

Characterizing seasonal dynamics of indoor fungal exposure and its relations with allergic diseases/symptoms of children - A case-control based investigation in residences

While most epidemiological surveys reported the effects of indoor fungi on causing building materials deterioration, air quality problems and health risks on occupants, the temporal variations of indoor fungal exposure and verification of the adverse health effects are still not well understood. This study conducted a case-control survey and multiple measurements in 23 homes (11 case and 12 reference) in different seasons. Seasonal dynamics significantly affect the indoor airborne fungal concentrations, with the highest in summer (1467 ± 751 CFU/m3) and the lowest in winter (462 ± 356 CFU/m3). The proportions for the airborne fungi at respirable size <4.7 μm accounted for 82.8%, 87.9% and 89.8% in summer, autumn and winter respectively, indicating a higher inhalable fraction into the lower respiratory system of children. With the high-throughput sequencing, the Aspergillus was the dominant genus and the Aspergillus_penicillioides was the prevailing species without seasonal differences. While the logistic regression presented positive associations with exposing to high fungal concentrations (aORs >1), no significant differences were found of airborne fungal concentrations and relative abundance of dust fungi between case and reference groups. The average exposure doses by inhalation for reference and case children were higher in summer under sleeping state, about 263 CFU/kg·d and 321 CFU/kg·d. These findings reveal the seasonal dynamical characteristics of household fungi and the associations with children's allergic diseases/symptoms, providing practical information for future health-based guidelines/standards and effective protection measures in buildings.

Association between response to repeated negative HIV testing and risk sexual behaviors in men who have sex with men in Chengdu

Objective: To investigate the association between the response to repeated negative HIV testing and the risk sexual behaviors in men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chengdu. Methods: A total of 610 MSM were recruited by convenience sampling method through Chengdu Tongle Health Consultation Service Centre from March to May 2022. Data were collected from the MSM through questionnaire survey, including the demographic characteristics, sexual behaviors in the past 6 months, the response to rerpeated negative HIV testing. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were conducted to analyze the association between the response to repeated negative HIV testing and risk sexual behavior. Results: A total of 579 (94.9%) participants participated in the questionnaire survey and 354 (61.1%) subjects were included in the study.For the negative HIV testing, some MSM believed that they had taken effective protection measures (17.03±2.20), some believed that they were lucky (7.50±1.87) and some believed that they were at low risk (8.87±3.62). Multivariate logistic regression model showed that protected sexual behavior was negatively associated with group sex (aOR=0.80, 95%CI: 0.67-0.95), lucky was positively associated with casual sex (aOR=1.20, 95%CI: 1.06-1.35), inconsistent condom use (aOR=1.21, 95%CI: 1.06-1.37), group sex (aOR=1.26, 95%CI: 1.00-1.60), and multiple sexual partners (aOR=1.24, 95%CI: 1.09-1.42) and low risk perception was positively associated with multiple sexual partners only (aOR=1.08, 95%CI: 1.01-1.15). Conclusions: There were high levels of recognition of protected sexual behavior and lucky dimensions in response to repeated negative HIV testing and well risk perception in MSM in Chengdu. In HIV testing and counseling services, intervention and risk warning should be strengthened in MSM who believed that they are lucky to improve their awareness of safe sex and reduce the negative effects of fluke mind.

α-Lipoic acid eliminates dioxin-induced offspring sexual immaturity by improving abnormalities in folic acid metabolism

Maternal exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) causes developmental and reproductive disorders in pups due to the attenuated luteinizing hormone (LH) production during the perinatal stage; however, the administration of α-lipoic acid (LA) to TCDD-exposed pregnant rats reversed the attenuated LH production. Therefore, reproductive disorders in pups are expected to be ameliorated with LA supplementation. To address this issue, pregnant rats orally received low dose TCDD at gestational day 15 (GD15) and proceeded to parturition. The control received a corn oil vehicle. To examine the preventive effects of LA, supplementation with LA was provided until postnatal day 21. In this study, we demonstrated that maternal administration of LA restored the sexually dimorphic behavior of male and female offspring. TCDD-induced LA insufficiency is likely a direct cause of TCDD reproductive toxicity. In the analysis to clarify the mechanism of the decrease in LA, we found evidence suggesting that TCDD inhibits the synthesis and increases the utilization of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a cofactor for LA synthesis, resulting in a decrease in the SAM level. Furthermore, folate metabolism, which is involved in SAM synthesis, is disrupted by TCDD, which may adversely affect infant growth. Maternal supplementation of LA restored SAM to its original level in the fetal hypothalamus; in turn, SAM ameliorated abnormal folate consumption and suppressed aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation induced by TCDD. The study demonstrates that the application of LA could prevent and recover next-generation dioxin reproductive toxicity, which provides the potential to establish effective protective measures against dioxin toxicity.

Agricultural Industry of Russia: Current State and Effectiveness of Protection Measures within Import Substitution Programs

The purpose of the study is to assess effectiveness of the new ways to protect the agricultural industry of the Russian Federation from the negative impact of the economic sanctions imposed against the state in 2022. It is revealed that in the current situation the markets of plant protection products, seeds and agricultural machinery have suffered significantly. The protective measures are considered, their potential to mitigate the sanctions pressure of unfriendly countries on the Russian agribusiness and stimulate the development of the economy as a whole is assessed. The state needs to increase and stimulate funds in this sector of demand for scarce goods, improving the technical and technological component, establishing new supply routes, raising interest in theoretical and applied sciences. As a large number of foreign companies have terminated their activities in Russia and withdrawn from the Russian domestic market, the state has now more opportunities to develop its own production facilities.

Improving the Performance of Convolutional GAN Using History-State Ensemble for Unsupervised Early Fault Detection with Acoustic Emission Signals

Early fault detection (EFD) in run-to-failure processes plays a crucial role in the condition monitoring of modern industrial rotating facilities, which entail increasing demands for safety, energy and ecological savings and efficiency. To enable effective protection measures, the evolving faults have to be recognized and identified as early as possible. The major challenge is to distil discriminative features on the basis of only the ‘health’ signal, which is uniquely available from various possible sensors before damage sets in and before the signatures of incipient damage become obvious and well-understood in the signal. Acoustic emission (AE) signals have been frequently reported to be able to deliver early diagnostic information due to their inherently high sensitivity to the incipient fault activities, highlighting the great potential of the AE technique for EFD, which may outperform the traditional vibration-based analysis in many situations. To date, the ‘feature-based’ multivariate analysis dominates the interpretation of AE waveforms. In this way, the decision-making relies heavily on experts’ knowledge and experience, which is often a weak link in the entire EFD chain. With the advent of artificial intelligence, practitioners seek an intelligent method capable of tackling this challenge. In the present paper, we introduce a versatile approach towards intelligent data analysis adapted to AE signals streaming from the sensors used for the continuous monitoring of rotating machinery. A new architecture with a convolutional generative adversarial network (GAN) is designed to extract the deep information embedded in the AE waveforms. In order to improve the robustness of the proposed EFD framework, a novel ensemble technique referred to as ‘history-state ensemble’ (HSE) is introduced and paired with GAN. The primary merits of HSE are twofold: (1) it does not require extra computing time to obtain the base models, and (2) it does not require a special design of the network architecture and can be applied to different networks. To evaluate the proposed method, a durability rolling contact fatigue test was performed with the use of AE monitoring. The experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed ensemble method largely improves the robustness of GAN.

A self-powered triboelectric UV photodetector based on coupling impedance matching and photoresistive effect by sensing-electrode model

Self-powered photodetectors can satisfy the development demands of Internet of things towards minimization, integration, intelligence and multifunctionality. In this work, we have reported a self-powered triboelectric UV photodetector (SPTUD) based on coupling impedance matching and the photoresistive effect. A sensing-electrode model is validated through replacing the traditional electrode by ZnO nanoparticle film in a single-electrode mode triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG). Working both as the photoresistive material and electrode, the resistance variation range of the ZnO film matches well with the resistance dependence of S-TENG. The output voltage is significantly affected by the variations in variable resistances of ZnO film altered by UV light intensity due to the impedance matching effect. As a self-powered UV photodetector, the voltage signal of SPTUD increases from 0.5 V to 1.1 V with increasing light intensity from 0 to 0.61 mW/cm2 under 375 nm UV light illumination. It can efficiently detect low-intensity UV light of 0.17 mW/cm2 with a voltage responsivity of 2.66 V (mW cm−2)−1. For demonstration, a wearable self-powered UV photodetection system based on the S-TENG and SPTUD is integrated in a bracelet. The reference-electrode and sensing-electrode are designed to connected with chip LEDs for visualized UV light photodetection to remind people to take effective measures for harmful UV light protection out of door. This work proposes the concept of sensing-electrode model, and we believe it will pave a new avenue for the next-generation of self-powered triboelectric sensors.

Asymmetric Behaviour and Traffic Flow Characteristics of Expressway Merging Area in China

Drivers show different characteristics in traffic oscillations. These differences reflect the driver’s driving style, which is an important part of traffic uncertainty. This paper deeply explores the driving characteristics in asymmetric driving behaviour and its influence on traffic flow characteristics. The aim is to improve the understanding of safe driving. Continuous vehicle trajectories under various traffic flow conditions in an expressway merging area are obtained by aerial photography. Image processing technology is used to extract the basic parameters of traffic flow and vehicle operating characteristic data. Based on the measured data, the driver’s response mode is subdivided into multiple sub-modes. On the basis of this study, the types and distribution of traffic hysteresis and the impact of asymmetric behaviour on merging area capacity are further revealed. The results show that the response coefficient will increase for 58.72 % drivers during the process of experiencing oscillation disturbance to rebalance. The traffic hysteresis caused by driver’s asymmetric following behaviour in an expressway merging area is generally positive. This reduces the bottleneck outflow rate of the merging area by about 7 % on average. This study has important practical significance in analysing the formation mechanism of traffic congestion and adopting effective protective measures.

Reconciling policy instruments with drivers of deforestation and forest degradation: cross-scale analysis of stakeholder perceptions in tropical countries

Cross-scale studies combining information on policy instruments and on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are key to design and implement effective forest protection measures. We investigated the scale and country dependency of stakeholder perceptions about future threats to tropical forests (e.g. agriculture, logging, woodfuel) and preferred policy instruments (e.g. reforestation, protected areas, combat illegal logging), by interviewing 224 representatives of forest-related institutions. We conducted analysis of variance and principal component analysis for eighteen variables across three countries (Zambia, Ecuador and the Philippines) and four spatial levels (from international to local). We found that the overall alertness about commercial drivers and the confidence in policy instruments are significantly lower at subnational levels and also in Zambia. Stakeholder expectations about the most important drivers and the most effective policies in the coming decade follow regional narratives, suggesting that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions in international forest policy. However, we found an unexpected consensus across scales, indicating potential for collaboration between institutions operating at different geographical levels. Overall, agriculture remains the driver with the highest expected influence (43%), while a strong favoritism for reforestation and forest restoration (38%) suggests a paradigm shift from protected areas to a stronger focus on integrative approaches.

Evaluation of Physical Adsorption Properties of the Activated Carbon Layers Used in the Commercial Face Mask Inserts

When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spread globally, wearing face masks in public became one of the most effective protective measures. Subsequently, due to the increasing demand for face masks, researchers explored feasible approaches to optimize their efficiency. The outcome of this research provides insights into the adsorption performance of four commercial face mask filter inserts with activated carbon layers (ACL). The results showed that the ACL of the inserts has very low Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface areas (2–33 m2/g) and low carbon percentages (19–31%). Physical adsorption analysis revealed non-uniform micropore size distributions in all samples. In addition, non-woven structures were obtained through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental outcomes show that the ACL in the purchased face masks is low-quality adsorbent and not pure carbonaceous material; polymeric components may be predominant.

Development of Environmentally Friendly Protection Measures Against Pests and Diseases

The paper describes the monitoring of phytosanitary conditions in different regions of the Almaty region (Kazakhstan) and demonstrates the large population of cruciferous fleas (Phyllotreta cruciferae) on rapeseed plants, which reaches 7-9 spec./m2, exceeding the economic injury level (3-5 spec./m2). The disease is observed to spread on wheat and barley seeds. Proceeding from this, the study aims to develop effective protection measures against cruciferous fleas and to ecologize agricultural technologies using safe techniques and means of protection. The study uses methods of registration when monitoring the spread of pests and determining the effectiveness of the methods and tools applied. It is demonstrated that the treatment of wheat seeds with a protective and stimulating mixture using the preparation of bisolbisan 1 l/t + extrasol 1 l/t raised the intensity of crop growth to 94.2% compared to 70.9% in the control sample. High biological efficacy is noted from the use of actarophyte 1 l/ha mixed with extrasol against cruciferous fleas, the population of which after treatment is only 1 spec./m2 against 7.8 spec./m2 in the control case. The study also analyzes the results of releasing the Trichogramma ovipositor (Trichogramma) in the amount of 350 g/ha, Habrobracon (Bracon hebetor Say) at a rate of 500 spec./ha and green lacewings (Chrysopidae) at a rate of 1,500 eggs/ha to combat the cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis Hbn.). This first known treatment of rape crops using a drone against cruciferous fleas achieved a biological efficiency of 95.8-96.2%.