Evaluation Of Environmental Changes Research Articles

Variable‐volume accelerated system to evaluate the carbaryl biodegradation dynamics of a microbial community by differential analysis

AbstractBACKGROUNDOne of the continuous cultivation methods for acquiring quantitative data on microbial metabolism under various environmental conditions within a single experiment is the accelerostat culture system (A‐stat). It allows the rapid analysis and quantitative evaluation of the effect of environmental on the functional response of microorganisms, which is reflected by the cultural biokinetic parameters. In a classical accelerostat system, equipment and control programs maintain a constant acceleration (a) of the culture's dilution rate D[t] = Do + at. Unlike the conventional A‐stat, in which a linear change in the dilution rate is obtained, a new variant, here named a variable‐volume accelerated (VVA) system, the acceleration is variable (a = f[t]); thus, D[t] = Do + a[t]. This system requires minimal manual intervention and presents operational advantages over the classical A‐stat; the reactor's D[t] change is achieved under a simple condition: the input and output flow rates are unequal; Fin ≠ Fout.RESULTSUsing carbaryl as a study model, the dynamic behavior of the VVA system was evaluated by differential analysis of the experimental data obtained by cultivating a carbaryl‐degrading microbial community. Mathematical analysis of the VVA system established the acceleration profile a[t] for the study, quantifying the impact of dilution rate on the microbial community's biokinetic and stoichiometric parameters.CONCLUSIONThe VVA system allowed observation of the effect of the D[t] gradient on the rate of change of kinetic parameters that define the physiological state of the microbial culture, together with the microbial community's macromolecular composition. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

Structure and Composition of Woody Species in the Kpatawee Tropical Rainforest in Liberia

Studying ecosystem structure and species composition is pivotal, offering critical insights into environmental health and biodiversity. It facilitates the evaluation of environmental changes, like deforestation and climate shifts, and their influence on species dynamics within ecosystems. Our study aimed to assess the woody species composition and structure within Liberia's Kpatawee tropical rainforest. We conducted transect walks, crossing the forest south-north and east-west, establishing six 20 m x 20 m sampling plots. Using the PlantNet plant species identifier tool, we cataloged surviving trees with a DBH ≥ 5 cm, including their scientific names. Results unveiled 71 tree species across 42 families, with Leguminosae displaying the highest diversity. Prominent species included Quararibea asterolepis, Hasseltia floribunda, and Castilla elastica. An intriguing inverted J-shaped pattern in diameter distribution linked to stem-stand shrubs, small-sized trees, and young large trees characterized the first class. The tree layer, mainly species like Garcinia benthamiana, Iramyan therasagotiana, and Eschweilera decolarans, contributed significantly to the total DBH (65.45%). Total basal area (BA) for trees DBH ≥ 5 cm was 16.39 m² ha-1. Notably, eight species accounted for 93% of the basal area, reflecting a concentration of individuals in lower DBH classes in the first category. This trend suggests a gradual decline in numbers in higher DBH classes. Consequently, we recommend implementing sustainable forest management to mitigate the impacts of selective cutting on forest recruitment and regeneration processes. The inverted J-shaped pattern, indicating prolific regeneration but limited recruitment, possibly due to selective cutting, underscores the imperative for prudent forest management.

LONG-TERM MONITORING OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ALONG CHINA-EUROPE RAILWAY EXPRESS (CER EXPRESS) USING MULTI-SOURCE REMOTELY SENSED DATA

Abstract. The China-Europe Railway Express (CER-Express), not only promoted the cooperation between countries and regions across Asia and Europe but also gave rise to remarkable changes in landcover and had a profound effect on the natural environment along the railway in recent years. Effective ways to monitor and assess ecological changes are urgently needed to ensure sustainable development of CER-Express. There are very few existing environmental monitoring studies focusing on the area along the CERExpress. In this paper, we present a study of environmental degradation, which occurred during the construction and operation of CER-Express from 2010 to 2018, based on a comprehensive evaluation index (CEI), which takes three environmental indicators into account and provides a timely and reliable evaluation of environmental changes at large scales. In addition, the environment conditions of the regions and countries along the CER-Express have been quantified and comparatively studied at different scales over different periods, using histograms of mean CEI values. Furthermore, specific causes of environmental degradation in the rail-intensive countries and small-area countries along the railway are discussed. Our results show that the environmental degradation can be detected in most of the rail-intensive countries, such as Germany, Poland, Austria, and Czech Republic along the railway. Therefore, to ensure sustainability of the CER-Express, environmental protection along the railway should be paid more attention to and a reasonable arrangement for the exploitation of CER-Express devised.

The role of strategic alignment of business strategies according to the (miles & snow) model on strategic success

This study aims to identify the compatibility between a numbers of business strategies conform to the form of (Miles & Snow) represented by (defenders, prospectors, analysts, and respondents) and its role on strategic success, represented by (survival, adaptation, and growth), the study population is the CC company for the drinks industry Ltd. under license from Coca-Cola in the city of Erbil Iraqi Kurdistan region. The study pursues a descriptive analytical approach, along with examine a set of hypotheses for the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study and its problem that have been tested by multiple statistical tools using statistical analysis software program (SPSS 20). A survey questionnaire prepared and distributed to managers, their deputies, supervisors and employees in the different units and in the various branches in the city of Erbil. The study population is about (85) managers and employees. The researcher has distributed (50) questionnaires, (45) questionnaires have been returned, and (42) questionnaires were valid for statistical analysis, which represents the study sample and (%49.4) of the study population. The study found number of results based on the analysis of respondents' answers such as the company has high-level rates of compatibility strategies along with the presence of correlation relationships and effect for business strategies according to the (Miles & Snow) model on strategic success. Based on the results the study presents a set of suggestions, one of the most important of these is the necessity for companies to create specialized environmental analysis units that undertake the study and evaluation of environmental changes and trends in general and competitiveness in particular, in order to face the changes that occur in the environment.

Evaluation of environmental changes as a function of climatic variables from 2008 to 2018 in the city of Manaus - Amazonas

El Niño intensifies the temperature increase in the Amazon region, causing heat and extreme drought in much of the Amazon, in Manaus the process of urbanization intensifies the temperature increase of the city. This study aims to perform an analysis of climatological variables of the city of Manaus-AM, from January 2008 to December 2018, through the maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and relative humidity in order to show the increase in temperature through statistical analysis showing the temperature. year of greatest impact. According to the results obtained, in 2008 Manaus recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the period being 23.4 ° C, characterizing the minimum maximum temperature with 32 ° C, it is noted that due to the presence of the negative phase of ENSO ( La Niña) in 2008 the precipitation level in the region was high, contributing to the low temperatures and the relative air humidity averaged 87%, and the highest annual average of the maximum and minimum temperature in the study period occurred in 2015. , being 33.5 ° C and 25.7 ° C, due to the positive phase of ENSO (El Niño), temperatures in the capital were high, with little precipitation during the year directly impacting the relative humidity (75%). . Therefore, the positive / negative ENSO anomalies had a major influence on the climatic variables in the year 2008 and 2015, characterizing low temperatures in 2008 and high temperatures in 2015.

Evaluation of environmental change in the mouth with the use of spray-type oral moisturizer containing γ-PGA

ObjectiveThis study was to evaluate the effect of new spray-type oral moisturizer containing poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA). γ-PGA can be classified as a pseudopolyamino acid, which contains only repeated glutamate units. The hygroscopic and moisturizing effects of γ-PGA were compared with HA. Cross-linked γ-PGA could absorb thousands of times more water than its own weight. Methods102 volunteers were randomly allocated to experimental and control groups. The experimental group (50 subjects) used this new moisturizer, the control group I (20 subjects) used sterile distilled water at normal temperature, and the control group II (32 subjects) used nothing. In experimental group, the effect of moisturizer was investigated by measuring amylase activity (salivary amylase monitor®), oral moisture (Mucus®), stimulated salivary flow rates at predetermine times (Saxon test). ResultsIn the amylase activity and the oral moisture, there was not a significant difference in all groups. In the stimulated salivary flow rates, there was a significant difference. When we compared the experimental group with the control group I, an increase was admitted at after 30min (p<0.05). When we compared the experimental group with the control group II, an increase was admitted at after 10 (p<0.01), 20 (p<0.05), 30min (p<0.05). ConclusionsNew moisturizer was able to improve the environment in the mouth. Oral application of γ-PGA has a possibility to be a therapeutic strategy for treating Xerostomia.

Food Availability/Convenience and Obesity

Neighborhood environments have received considerable attention in recent local, state, and national obesity prevention initiatives, with a particular focus on food deserts, or areas with poor access to healthy foods. Yet, there are inconsistencies in the evidence base, suggesting a nuanced association between neighborhood environment, food availability, diet behaviors, and obesity. There is heterogeneity in associations between environmental exposures and health outcomes across race/ethnicity, gender, region, and urbanicity, which results in complexity in the interpretation of findings. There are several limitations in the literature, including a predominance of cross-sectional studies, reliance on commercial business listings, lack of attention to the process by which diet resources are established and expanded within neighborhoods and the potential for individuals to selectively migrate to locate near such facilities, a predominant focus on residential neighborhoods, and lack of information about the decision-making process underlying purchasing patterns. More research is needed to address the complexity of individual-level residential decision making as well as the purposeful placement of food environment resources across social and geographic space using longitudinal data and complex statistical approaches. In addition, improvements in data quality and depth related to food access and availability are needed, including behavioral data on purchase patterns and interactions with the food environment, and greater attention to heterogeneity across subpopulations. As policy changes to the food environment move forward, it is critical that there is rigorous and scientific evaluation of environmental changes and their impact on individual-level diet choices and behaviors, and their further influence on body weight.

Environmental cognitions, land change, and social–ecological feedbacks: an overview

Understanding land use transitions requires analyzing how, when facing qualitative environmental change, human agents may modify their beliefs, values, and decision rules. This article first reviews some of the useful theories analyzing how environmental change can have a feedback effect on behaviors, via the environmental cognitions. Then, it discusses three propositions for more cognitively realistic agents in land change science: (i) land use choices result from multiple decision-making processes and rely on various motives, influenced by social norms, emotions, beliefs, and values toward the environment; (ii) social–ecological feedbacks are mediated by the environmental cognitions, that is, the perception, interpretation, evaluation of environmental change, and decision-making; (iii) human agents actively re-evaluate their beliefs, values, and functioning to adapt to unexpected environmental changes. Empirical and modeling studies in land change science can progress by linking the three components of the feedback loop, that is, environmental changes, environmental cognitions, and land use practices.

An Evaluation of Environmental Changes Within Fisheries Involved in the Marine Stewardship Council Certification Scheme

There is ongoing debate regarding the value of market-based instruments, such as certification schemes, as an approach to improving the environmental impact of fisheries. This article evaluates the effects of the Marine Stewardship Council on the environmental performance of fisheries over the period before and after certification. A large number of fisheries (n = 447) have undertaken pre-assessments, and in most cases (83%), the auditors recommended that significant improvements should be made before entering full assessment. In cases where substantial improvements were required, the proportion of performance indicators scoring over 80 (considered by the Marine Stewardship Council to be the point of best practice) increased by 22% between pre-assessment and certification. Significant improvements continued after certification, characterized by a 16% increase in the proportion of performance indicators scoring over 80 over a period of five years. Increases in scores assigned by auditors were significantly correlated with increases in real environmental performance (such as increases in stock biomass or the development of protected areas) and improvements in information, which led to increasing certainty that impacts were within sustainable limits. Although results show that certification is associated with real environmental benefits, most improvements are made by fisheries that require significant changes to enter the program. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Reviews in Fisheries Science for the following free supplemental resources: information and references used in order to analyze the trends related to each fishery performance indicator]

How culture evolves: an institutional analysis

PurposeThis paper seeks to propose a framework that describes how culture evolves and how certain external shocks may or may not cause it to change.Design/methodology/approachThe central point is that culture, like firms and markets, is a type of institution and is, therefore, susceptible to the same sort of analysis applied to other institutional forms. In this study, culture is examined from the game‐equilibrium view of institutions that suggests that norms of behavior are endogenously generated and become self‐enforcing through the repeated interaction of individuals. Two historical examples are offered to assess the proposed framework: the experience of ethnic Malays in Malaysia following independence from Britain, and Brazil's agricultural workers during the early part of the twentieth century.FindingsConceptualizing culture in institutional terms challenges conventional wisdom, which regards culture as exogenously given. The institutional view of culture permits an evaluation of environmental changes as to the likelihood that they will change generally held beliefs.Research limitations/implicationsTo the extent that culture explains, in part, the economic performance of societies, the implication for policy makers is that they do not have to wait patiently for slow cultural change or rely on serendipity to achieve a more productive culture paradigm.Originality/valueThis paper applies concepts from institutional economics to the study of culture evolution and change.

Organic geochemistry of the Lower Miocene Oberdorf lignite (Styrian Basin, Austria): its relation to petrography, palynology and the palaeoenvironment

In the Oberdorf trough at the northwestern margin of the Styrian Basin (Austria), an up to 36-m thick Lower Miocene (Ottnangian) lignite seam occurs within the fluvial Köflach–Voitsberg Formation. Previous results indicate that the lignite originated in a topogenous mire within a wet-forest swamp palaeoenvironment. Differences in soluble organic matter (SOM) yield of borehole samples from the lignite seam are related to free lipids present in plant waxes or resins and the presence of thermally labile polymers indicated by the contents of liptinite macerals (i.e., resinite, suberinite, and liptodetrinite). The n-alkane distribution patterns are dominated by high-molecular weight lipids with marked odd over even predominance, originating from plant waxes. A contribution of algae to the even numbered short-chain lipids, observed in considerable amounts in the footwall sediments is proposed. Terpenoid biomarkers characteristic for conifers and angiosperms were detected, consistent with palynomorphic spectra which are dominated by forest swamp pollen (Taxodiaceae–Cupressaceae) and pollen from plants living in a mixed mesophytic forest. Excellent relationships between higher plant biomarker composition and palynologic data indicate that the organic geochemical results reflect the varying inputs of coniferales vs. angiosperms. The data further imply that cuparene may be used for taxonomical differentiation of coniferales families. Organic geochemical data provide evidence that the content of land plant-derived biomarkers is controlled by the input of resin-rich conifers. Concentrations of hopanoids, dominated by hop-17(21)-ene, generally increase towards the top of the lignite, a section characterised by high extents of aromatisation of triterpenoid biomarkers. The results suggest that the aromatisation of angiosperm-derived biomarkers may be governed by the activity of anaerobic rather than by aerobic bacteria. However, changes in the depositional environment and palynologic facies during peat formation probably influenced the origin and fate of angiosperm-derived triterpenoids. The results indicate how biomarker composition may contribute to the evaluation of environmental changes. Cross-correlations of organic geochemical parameters with palynological data and petrography-based facies indicators will provide further insights in the peat-forming vegetation and biogeochemical activities in the mire.

Impacts of Airborne Pollutants on Soil Fauna

▪ Abstract The impacts of airborne pollutants have been studied in only a few groups of soil animals, notably protozoans, nematodes, potworms, earthworms, mites, and collembolans. Pollutants in the form of acid depositions, which contain SO42−, NOx, H+, heavy metals, and some organic compounds, are not homogeneously distributed on the landscape. Deposition patterns depend mainly on landscape configuration and plant cover. Airborne pollutants affect soil animals both directly and indirectly. Direct toxic effects are associated with uptake of free acidic water from the environment by some soil animals and with consumption of polluted food by others. Indirect effects are mediated primarily through disappearance or reduction of the food resources (microflora and microfauna) of soil animals, changes in organic matter content, and modification of microclimate. In the field, changes in competition among species are probably important factors that influence the soil animal community structure as well as the reactions of individual species to soil acidification or liming. The overall effect is a depauperation of soil with an attendant reduction in the rate of organic matter decomposition. We have provided five hypotheses, using soil fauna as indicators, to allow for quick evaluation of environmental changes caused by airborne pollutants.