Storage Levels Research Articles

Using archive hydrogeological data to enhance the hydrodynamic knowledge of hardrock aquifers in Western Africa

In the Kara River Watershed (KRW, northern Togo), drinking water is mainly supplied by groundwater flowing through fissures in the metamorphic formations of the Dahomeyides belt. The study was based on the use and valorisation of hydrogeological archive dataset from 1970s to 2021. The database comprises 1,389 boreholes, but only 710 are considered after pre-treatment, and provides information mainly on total depth, weathering thickness, discharge at drilling, piezometric level, specific discharge, transmissivity, and the nature of the lithology tapped. The methodological approach involved statistical analysis of data, characterization of the fissured horizon, establishment of relationships between hydrodynamic parameters and satellite image processing. The results showed that the aquifers structure is close to those observed worldwide in hardrock context and they provide operational details on the hydrogeological functioning of these environments in the West African particular context. From the surface downwards, aquifers show a layer of saprolite (thickness between 0.2 and 37.3 m) acting as a storage level, a fissured layer whose permeability depends on the number and connectivity of the fissures, and then a level of very low permeability, unfissured bedrock. In the study area, the depth of the useful fissured medium is 52 m with an average useful discharge of 7.1 m3.h-1. The coefficients of variation for specific discharge and transmissivity are greater than 100%, reflecting the structural heterogeneity of the study area. Analysis of the discharges measured in the boreholes as a function of lithology shows that the metasediments are more productive than other geological formations. Finally, all the geological, hydrogeological, and hydrodynamical data have been used to propose a preliminary conceptual model of the watershed's hardrock aquifers. These results will serve as decision-making tools for water managers and will facilitate the policy of integrated management of groundwater resources at the scale of the KRW. The developed methodology also shows how archive data should be used to achieve optimized management of aquifers without major investments.

Increasing the Oxygen Consumption in Hermetic Grain Storage Using Grain Weevils (Sitophilus granarius)

Loss of stored plant products due to insect infestation is a problem that is likely to increase with global warming. Improved storage under hermetic conditions in oxygen deficiency can prevent or control infestation and preserve product quality. Oxygen levels in hermetic storage decrease due to different factors, one of which is the oxygen consumption of the insects present. Experiments were carried out using varying numbers (25, 50, or 200) of all developmental stages of the grain weevil Sitophilus granarius L. (eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult beetles) caged and placed in sealed 30-L containers containing 22 kg of wheat for at least 21 weeks. Oxygen levels were measured at regular intervals. The oxygen consumption depended on the number of insects and went below the critical threshold of 3% for S. granarius survival in most of the trials. Some surviving beetles were observed at the end of the hermetic experiments and 12 weeks afterwards during control for progeny, when oxygen levels did not fall below the critical threshold or the low level could not be maintained for a sufficient time. Monitoring oxygen levels in hermetic storage is therefore essential to ensure safe storage over long periods.

Recycled crystal population proving complex plumbing systems: an archetypal example from Cretaceous alkaline magmatism in SE Brazil

Porphyritic alkaline dykes from the Serra do Mar province (SE Brazil) carry clinopyroxene macrocrysts with a complex magmatic history. Clinopyroxene is the main macrocryst phase from the Bom Repouso dyke, representing different populations. Based on petrographical features, mineral chemistry and equilibrium relationships, the clinopyroxene populations are classified as antecrysts (green cores and colourless cores and mantles) and phenocrysts (Ti-augite mantle/rims). Calculated compositions for the liquid in equilibrium with the macrocryst cores indicate mafic (colourless cores) and felsic (green cores) alkaline melts. These were used as poles for mixing-model curves, revealing a hybrid origin for the host matrix. Clinopyroxene barometry reveals key insights into the plumbing systems of the Serra do Mar province, with the Bom Repouso dyke as an archetypal example of these transcrustal systems. All target bodies record a crystallization history over a continuous range of pressures (>8 kbar up to the surface). Some preferred levels for magma storage are observed: c. 0–0.5, 1–2.5, 3–4 and 5.5–7 kbar. Our work highlights the complex magmatic history of the Serra do Mar alkaline occurrences, encompassing several open-system effects. A thorough petrographical examination is necessary to enhance our comprehension of these magmas, while petrogenetic models based on whole-rock compositions may lead to biased interpretations.

Stand structure and Brazilian pine as key determinants of carbon stock in a subtropical Atlantic forest.

Understanding the drivers of variations in carbon stocks is essential for developing the effective management strategies that contribute to mitigating climate change. Although a positive relationship between biodiversity and the aboveground carbon (AGC) has been widely reported for various Brazilian forest types, representing a win-win scenario for climate change mitigation, this association has not been commonly found in Brazilian subtropical forests. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of Araucaria angustifolia, stand structure and species diversity in shaping AGC stocks in Brazilian subtropical mixed forest. We hypothesized that the effects on the AGC of stand structure and diversity would be mediated by A. angustifolia. We also evaluated the expectation of higher carbon stocks in protected forest as a result of their positive correlation with biodiversity conservation. We found that stand structure, followed by A. angustifolia, played the most important role in shaping the AGC stock. Our hypothesis was partially confirmed, the indirect effects of A. angustifolia on stand structure being found to have shaped the AGC. Similarly, our expectation was partially supported, with the higher AGC in the protected area being related not to diversity, but rather to the presence of larger trees, denser stands, and a greater abundance of A. angustifolia. Although the win-win strategy between diversity conservation and carbon storage is not a peculiarity of Araucaria forests, we highlight the potential of these forests as a nature-based climate solution, maintaining high levels of carbon storage in harmony with the provision of keystone socio-economic resources.

A mathematical model for potash supply chain management with a strategic logistics perspective

Abstract Accepted by: M. Zied Babai This paper introduces a novel Integer Linear Programming model designed to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of the potash supply chain, a crucial element supporting global agriculture. The developed mathematical optimization model focuses on fleet selection (private/outsource) and incorporates the concept of ‘inter-warehouse collaboration’, which addresses key logistics considerations. Integrating mining, processing, storage and transportation, the model encompasses decision variables like extracted carnallite amount, production, storage levels and shipped potash amount. Illustrated through a case study on the Arab Potash Company in Jordan, the results showcase the model’s proficiency in meeting local and international market demands. The model ensures resilient and sustainable supply chain performance by emphasizing logistics optimization, particularly in fleet selection. The study attains the highest ‘warehouse-to-warehouse’ support for Standard and Granular potash types in the international demand scenario, contributing to efficient production planning and fleet management. In conclusion, the presented mathematical model is a valuable tool for potash industry stakeholders, offering insights for strategic decision-makers involved in production planning and fleet management.

Maintaining reliability in a 100% decarbonized power sector: The interrelated role of flexible resources

Reliability will remain a key requirement for decarbonized power sectors, but also a concern with the high penetration of variable renewable energy (VRE). The traditional approach for reliability is by producing enough energy and adapting rapidly to changes in load with the dispatch of fossil fuel power plants, especially natural gas power plants. However, this will have to evolve as decarbonization progresses. Can various flexibility resources such as transmission, storage and demand response provide the same reliability benefits? This paper uses a detailed, capacity expansion and hourly operation model to investigate the possibility and the cost of reaching different levels of planning reserve margins (PRM), in the multi-regional context of the North American Northeast. We find that while it is possible to entirely avoid natural gas power plants or nuclear ones to obtain high PRM, it would come at a very high cost and would require high levels of transmission, storage and demand response. We also detail why these three flexibility resources are needed in combination. The implications for energy policies are significant: in order for power system's cost to remain reasonable, reliability must count on some carbon-neutral natural gas or nuclear generation, along with interties with neighboring systems, storage and high levels of demand response.

Dynamics of meteorological and hydrological drought: The impact of groundwater and El Niño events on forest fires in the Amazon

Over recent decades, anthropogenic forest fires have significantly altered vegetation dynamics in the Amazon region. While human activities primarily initiate these fires, their escalation is intricately linked to climatic conditions, particularly droughts induced by the warm El Niño phase. This study investigates the impact of meteorological and hydrological drought on forest fires in the Amazon, focusing on the role of groundwater and El Niño events. Utilizing comprehensive drought indicators at various soil depths and standardized precipitation indexes, the research spans from 2004 to 2016, revealing a consistent decrease in humidity conditions across surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture, and groundwater storage levels. With its slower response to precipitation changes, groundwater emerges as a crucial factor influencing hydrological drought patterns in the Amazon. The spatial distribution of drought conditions is explored, highlighting areas with lower humidity concentrations in the northeast and a correlation between forest fires and positive rates of change in burned area fraction during El Niño events. Notably, the study underscores the substantial increase in burned area during the 2015–2016, characterized by a very strong El Niño. This nuanced understanding of groundwater dynamics and its interplay with El Niño events provides critical insights for developing a tailored fire risk index in the ecologically significant and vulnerable Amazon basin, subsidizing strategies for mitigating fire risk and enhancing preparedness.

Ferritin and Iron Levels Inversely Associated With Lymphoma Risk: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Current knowledge on iron's role in lymphoma development is very limited, with studies yielding inconsistent findings. To address this gap, we conducted a rigorous two-sample mendelian randomization study, aiming to elucidate the potential associations between iron storage and the risk of developing lymphoma. This study leveraged extensive genetic data derived from a comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) comprising 257,953 individuals. The primary objective was to pinpoint single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are significantly associated with iron storage. Subsequently, this genetic information was analyzed in conjunction with summary-level data pertaining to lymphoma cases and controls, sourced from the IEU open GWAS project, which included a sample size of 3,546 lymphoma cases and 487,257 controls. To evaluate the relationship between iron storage and lymphoma risk, an inverse variance-weighted method with random effects was employed, complemented by rigorous sensitivity analyses. Genetic predisposition to high ferritin and serum iron status was causally associated with lower odds of lymphoma. Ferritin exhibited an odds ratio (OR) of 0.777 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.628 - 0.961, P = 0.020), indicating 22.3% reduced odds of lymphoma associated with a one standard deviation increase in ferritin levels. Similarly, serum iron demonstrated an OR of 0.776 (95% CI: 0.609 - 0.989, P = 0.040), corresponding to 22.4% decreased odds of lymphoma for a one standard deviation increase in serum iron. This study suggests that individuals with genes linked to higher iron storage levels have a lower risk of developing lymphoma, but further research is necessary before making any clinical recommendations.

Techno-economic-environmental study of CO2 and aqueous formate solution injection for geologic carbon storage and enhanced oil recovery

As carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), carbon-dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR) has inherent shortcomings, such as inefficient oil recovery and carbon storage, and low storage security with mobile CO2. This paper presents a techno-economic-environmental analysis of using formate species, a product of CO2 electrochemical reduction, as an alternative carbon carrier for sequestration and EOR in a carbonate oil reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico Basin. CO2 injection, water-alternating-CO2 injection, and aqueous formate solution injection were compared using a compositional reservoir simulation model and an economic calculator. Formate solution injection yielded greater levels of oil recovery and net carbon storage, where the carbon-bearing species resided in the dense aqueous phase without having to rely on petrophysical trapping mechanisms (structural and capillary). The enhanced oil production, net carbon storage, and storage security can be promoted by providing formate-based CCUS with more incentives (e.g., greater tax credit) in comparison to CO2-based CCUS for EOR and the manufacture of chemicals and products. In establishing carbon storage incentive policies and regulations, policymakers should include alternative carbon carriers.

Optimization of Parallel Data Transfers in Multi-Tiered Persistent Storage

A logical model of multi-tiered persistent storage provides a view of data where all available storage resources are distributed over a number of levels depending on the data transfer parameters and capacities. The efficient parallelization of data transfers in multi-tiered persistent storage is a significant challenge for a pipelined data processing model. This work examines a category of database applications implemented as sequences of operations that transfer data between the levels of multi-tiered persistent storage. The concept of EPN: Extended Petri Nets represents how database applications can be processed in parallel. A proposed transformation involves converting EPN into sequences of parallel data transfers. Additionally, a method is demonstrated for partitioning these sequences of data transfers, with the goal of reducing the total number of conflicts when data transfers occur between the levels of multi-tiered persistent storage. The paper proposes new rule-based algorithms for scheduling parallel data transfers that minimize total data transfer time. The objectives of the new algorithms are to evenly distribute the workload among the data transfer processes and reduce their idle time. Several experiments have confirmed the effectiveness of the new algorithms in generating parallel data transfer plans.

The Impact on People who Trade on the Fish Species ‘Limnothrissa miodon’ - Kapenta for their Livelihood: Practical Perceptions of Traders of Siavonga

Lake Kariba is the world’s largest man-made lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1300km upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba dam at its north eastern end flooding the Kariba Gorge on the Zambezi River. Culturally controversial, the local people believed that the construction of the dam would anger the Zambezi river god Nyami-nyami, who rise up and cause the dam would wall to collapse destroying the bridge as well as resulting in floods of catastrophic proportions. It is believed that the Nyami-nyami lives under a rock close to the Kariba dam wall. The rock is called ‘Kariwa’ meaning trap as the local people believed if you canoed past its location you would be sucked down in whirlpool never to be seen again. This where the name Kariba originates from, laced with the local mythology. In the late 1960s a type of fish Limnothrissa miodon locally known as Kapenta was introduced in Lake Kariba from lake Tanganyika. Kapenta is a small sardine fish which supports a large and viable fishery for Zimbabwe and Zambia. Kapenta, a type of fish also known as fresh water sardine has several chemical compositions that help reduce the risk of various diseases including prostate cancer. A recent chemical composition analysis of Kapenta by the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) shows a great variation in the nutrient composition for the dry and fresh Kapenta. NFNC principal nutritionist Mr. Musonda Mofu says dry Kapenta contains 209 calories of food energy compared with 85 calories of food energy in fresh Kapenta. In addition dry Kapenta contains 63 grammes of protein and only 16 grams of protein in fresh Kapenta. The paper reflects on the declining population of this small nutrient rich fish due to over-harvesting, climatic changes with increasing temperatures and with the decreasing levels of water storage. A cumulative study on the pattern of nurturing the fish for economic and social flexibility is the main concern of this paper.

Identification and selection of volatile compounds derived from lipid oxidation as indicators for quality deterioration of frozen white meat and red meat using HS-SPME-GC–MS combined with OPLS-DA

This work aimed to investigate the effects of frozen storage on volatile compounds of white meats (chicken and duck) and red meats (pork, beef, and mutton). The samples were stored at −18 °C for 0, 2, 4, 10, 18 weeks, and volatile compounds were analyzed by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results indicated that the total amounts of volatile compounds increased with frozen storage duration of meats. The correlations were observed between frozen storage duration and levels of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, tetradecane, nonanal, decanal, octanal, tridecanal, benzaldehyde, pentadecane, propanoic acid,2-methyl-,3-hydroxy-2,2,4-trimethylpentyl ester, heptadecane, and hexanal (r = 0.7456–0.9873). Levels of octanal and propanoic acid,2-methyl-,3-hydroxy-2,2,4-trimethylpentyl ester in white meat and benzaldehyde in red meat versus frozen storage duration fitted very well with zero-order reactions. Therefore, it was concluded that changes in volatile compounds derived from lipid oxidation may be used as indicators of quality deterioration during frozen storage of meat.

Insect Pest Management in Stored Millets

Recognizing the significance of millets as Nutri-Cereals, India celebrated the National Year of Millets in 2018, and subsequently, as proposed by India, the FAO of the United Nations declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYoM). Consequently, there has been an intensive drive, globally, to increase the production and popularise the consumption of whole as well as processed millets by creating an awareness about their significant health benefits and richness in nutritional elements. Besides food, millets play a role as feed and in industrial uses. In commensurate with anticipated higher production, storage and international trade of whole millets and their products, it is important to protect millets throughout the supply chain from stored grain insects, the predominant biotic agent responsible for their qualitative and quantitative losses. In this context, this review focusses on the type of insect infestation encountered in millets from field to consumer levels affecting their market value and causing consumer concern. Insect management techniques adopted by the stakeholders such as farmers, traders, and government grain storage agencies are discussed. Due to financial constraints, small holder farmers use traditional storages and insect management measures using locally available plant products. Like other cereals, fumigation with aluminium phosphide (phosphine) preparations has a major role in insect pest management in millets at various storage levels. Hermetic storage bags of different capacities are used in India and in other millet producing countries especially at farmers level as a valuable insect management tool for whole millets and seed materials. Powdered and processed millets have shorter shelf-life and are more vulnerable to insect attack during storage. Hence, there are studies to increase their shelf life and to check infestation by suitable packaging material. Alternate insect management techniques investigated include ozone treatment, protective packaging materials, screening and breeding of millet varieties that are resistant to grain insects National regulations pertinent to insect management in stored millets have also been discussed.

Research on jujube storage and preservation system based on Internet of Things (IoT)

With the surge in Xinjiang jujube production, there has been a concurrent increase in storage losses, posing an ongoing challenge for farmers to preserve the freshness of the jujubes. To tackle this issue, a novel storage and freshness control system for jujubes, integrating Internet of Things technology, has been developed. The control system is centered around a programmable logic controller (PLC) and utilizes an HMI as the interface for human–computer interaction. It is structured with distinct layers, including equipment, transportation, and application layers. By integrating with the Internet of Things cloud platform, data transmission between the device layer and the cloud server is ensured through the use of the TCP/IP protocol over a 4G network. A mobile app enables remote control functionality for monitoring and managing the storage and preservation environment. Experimental results demonstrate the system's stable performance, enabling remote monitoring and convenient operation by management personnel during the jujube storage and preservation process. This contributes to enhancing automation levels in jujube storage, extending its storage cycle while maintaining quality standards, thus providing valuable insights into intelligent fruit and vegetable storage practices in Xinjiang.

Photovoltaic sizing assessment for microgrid communities under load shifting constraints and endogenous electricity prices: A Stackelberg approach

Renewable energy resources are crucial for decarbonizing the energy sector. Distributed energy resources, such as renewable generation by microgrids, aid the transition to net-zero systems. As microgrids proliferate, renewable generation often exceeds self-supply capacities, necessitating either the sale of excess electricity or the implementation of demand-response strategies. The optimal approach for microgrids (selling or shifting demand) hinges on electricity prices. This article examines the interplay between microgrids, demand response, photovoltaic investments, and pricing mechanisms. A novel Stackelberg model is proposed to minimize microgrid investment and operational costs. The upper-level problem determines energy community investments and demand response levels based on electricity prices, while the lower-level problem addresses market dispatch and endogenous pricing for microgrids. Case studies with varying battery storage levels, demand response limits, and pricing mechanisms are conducted. The research results illustrate the responsiveness of market transactions to supply conditions and pricing. Key findings show that microgrid flexibility in demand response reduces grid dependency, prompting significant investments in solar energy and battery storage, driven by economic incentives, especially under spot market conditions. Investments in solar energy more than double when microgrids trade energy at spot prices compared to flat prices.

Advancing Low-Cost Flow Battery Chemistries

Pumped-hydroelectric presently dominates U.S. grid electricity storage capacity resources, but the past decade has brought increasing levels of electrochemical energy storage (EES) installations.1 Policymakers have recognized the need for longer-duration systems as more EES gets added to the grid and sought systems that can provide durations of 8+ hours.2 , 3 Although Li-ion presently dominates EES deployments, the average duration of U.S. utility-based-systems are relatively short at 3 hours.4 Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have an advantage over Li-ion systems at long durations due to their system architecture. The marginal cost of another hour of RFB duration asymptotes to the cost of additional active materials and their storage containers, as opposed to the cost of additional Li-ion cells, packs, and modules.Leading vanadium RFBs have made cost reductions by improving the power density of their energy conversion stacks,5 , 6 but eventually are limited by the relatively high cost of their vanadium active materials. Vanadium RFB suppliers are actively seeking to reduce this cost through business innovations. Yet, from a technical perspective, switching to lower cost active materials can also permit economically feasible long duration RFB systems.7 RTX Technology Research Center has previously reported on the low cost active material chemistries including the sulfur/manganese (S-Mn) chemistry and ligand-coordinate metals (LCM, e.g. chromium/iron).8 , 9 S/Mn uses active materials based on low-cost sulfur, a waste product of fossil fuel production, and inexpensive manganese, an element presently used commercially in disposable primary cells. LCM chemistries use mass-produced organic ligands and inexpensive metal centers like iron, chromium, and titanium, and can rely on more neutral, and benign, electrolyte pH conditions that offer wider electrochemical stability windows. Along with these benefits, LCM chemistries bring new challenges such as managing pH in an environment where small absolute concentration changes have outsized effects. This abstract will focus on the progress made advancing low-cost chemistries toward industrial relevance via thousands of hours of operation and in full-sized cell/stack form-factors. Acknowledgements: The work presented herein was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR000994. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. References Chalamala, B., DOE Global Energy Storage Database. Sandia National Laboratories: 2020.Padilla, M., Joint Long Duration Storage Request for Offers. Energy, S. V. C., Ed. Silicon Valley Clean Energy: 2020.Albertus, P.; Manser, J. S.; Litzelman, S., Long-Duration Electricity Storage Applications, Economics, and Technologies. Joule 2020, 4 (1), 21-32.Linga, V. Duration of utility-scale batteries depend on how they're used; EIA: U.S. EIA 'Today in Energy', March 25, 2022, 2022.Sun, C. N.; Mench, M. M.; Zawodzinski, T. A., High Performance Redox Flow Batteries: An Analysis of the Upper Performance Limits of Flow Batteries Using Non-aqueous Solvents. Electrochimica Acta 2017, 237, 199-206.Perry, M. L.; Darling, R. M.; Zaffou, R., High Power Density Redox Flow Battery Cells. ECS Transactions 2013, 53 (7), 7-16.Wadia, C.; Albertus, P.; Srinivasan, V., Resource constraints on the battery energy storage potential for grid and transportation applications. Journal of Power Sources 2011, 196 (3), 1593-1598.Yang, Z.; Gerhardt, M. R.; Fortin, M.; Shovlin, C.; Weber, A. Z.; Perry, M. L.; Darling, R. M.; Saraidaridis, J. D., Polysulfide-Permanganate Flow Battery Using Abundant Active Materials. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2021, 168 (7), 070516.Saraidaridis, J.; Yang, Z., Electrolyte Takeover Strategy for Performance Recovery in Polysulfide-Permanganate Flow Batteries. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2021, 168 (11), 110556.

Driving Analysis and Multi Scenario Simulation of Ecosystem Carbon Storage Changes Based on the InVEST-PLUS Coupling Model: A Case Study of Jianli City in the Jianghan Plain of China

The carbon storage capacity of terrestrial ecosystems serves as a crucial metric for assessing ecosystem health and their resilience to climate change. By evaluating the effects of land use alterations on this storage, carbon management strategies can be improved, thereby promoting carbon reduction and sequestration. While county-level cities are pivotal to ecological conservation and high-quality development, they often face developmental challenges. Striking a balance between economic growth and meeting peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality objectives is particularly challenging. Consequently, there is an urgent need to bolster research into carbon storage management. The study focuses on Jianli City, employing the InVEST model and land use data to examine the response patterns of land use changes and terrestrial system carbon storage from 2000 to 2020. Using the PLUS model, the study simulated the land use and carbon storage in Jianli City for the year 2035 under three scenarios: Natural Development scenario, Urban Expansion scenario, and Ecology and food security scenario. Our findings indicate the following: (1) Between 2000 and 2020, significant shifts in land use were observed in Jianli City. These changes predominantly manifested as the interchange between Cropland and Water areas and the enlargement of impervious surfaces, leading to a decrease of 691,790.27 Mg in carbon storage. (2) Under the proposed scenarios—Natural Development scenario, Urban Expansion scenario, and Ecology and food security scenario—the estimated carbon storage capacities in Jianli City were 39.95 Tg, 39.90 Tg, and 40.14 Tg, respectively. When compared with the 2020 data, all these estimates showed an increase. In essence, our study offers insights into optimizing land use structures from a carbon storage standpoint to ensure stability in Jianli’s carbon storage levels while mitigating the risks associated with carbon fixation. This has profound implications for the harmonious evolution of regional eco-economies.

Heat wave resilience in open Spaces: A case study of a Self-Sufficient cooling shelter

Climate change intensifies urban uninhabitability due to increasingly frequent heat waves. To alleviate it, climatic shelters emerge as an initiative for the research community, which should deepen the integration of technologies that use natural resources for cooling. This work aims to evaluate a novel climatic shelter by characterizing its thermal behavior through an experimental study at a bus stop. It has the capacity to alleviate the thermal stress of its occupants thanks to cooling modules. The results allow to determine the capacity of the natural water-cooling system and the level of thermal storage, allowing to quantify the impact on the citizen by means of the COMFA comfort index. It is corroborated that the chilled water temperature reduces the surface temperature by 15 °C. The installation reduces overheating caused by solar radiation by 75 % compared to traditional shelters. It also demonstrates energy and electrical self-sufficiency even during high intensity heat waves. The shelter maintains daytime water temperature between 18 and 25 °C, even in heat waves exceeding 7 days and 45 °C air temperature. The COMFA index has been reduced to values between 70 and 120 W/m2 in 90 % of the worst weather conditions in Csa climates by Köppen Geiger, for the months of July and August 2023.

The influence of knowledge storage on knowledge management processes in higher education institutions

ABSTRACT Knowledge storage is one of the essential processes in the knowledge management cycle for an efficient knowledge base to access and transfer required knowledge. Nevertheless, scientific studies lack thorough research on its influence on other knowledge management processes and frequently neglect to investigate seniority’s role in storing knowledge. Therefore, to fill this research gap, a survey was employed to collect data from 220 academics, and PLS-structural equation modelling techniques and one-way ANOVA were employed for data analysis. The findings indicated a significant and positive influence of knowledge storage on the knowledge processes analysed in the study and an insignificant difference in average knowledge storage level between groups of academics belonging to different work experience categories. The results of this study are of high importance for higher education institutions interested in improving the knowledge potential in their organisations.

Assessing land-use changes and carbon storage: a case study of the Jialing River Basin, China

Land-use change is the main driver of carbon storage change in terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, domestic and international studies mainly focus on the impact of carbon storage changes on climate, while studies on the impact of land-use changes on carbon storage in complex terrestrial ecosystems are few. The Jialing River Basin (JRB), with a total area of ~ 160,000 km2, diverse topography, and elevation differences exceeding 5 km, is an ideal case for understanding the complex interactions between land-use change and carbon storage dynamics. Taking the JRB as our study area, we analyzed land-use changes from 2000 to 2020. Subsequently, we simulated land-use patterns for business-as-usual (BAU), cropland protection (CP), and ecological priority (EP) scenarios in 2035 using the PLUS model. Additionally, we assessed carbon storage using the InVEST model. This approach helps us to accurately understand the carbon change processes in regional complex terrestrial ecosystems and to formulate scientifically informed land-use policies. The results revealed the following: (1) Cropland was the most dominant land-use type (LUT) in the region, and it was the only LUT experiencing net reduction, with 92.22% of newly designated construction land originating from cropland. (2) In the JRB, total carbon storage steadily decreased after 2005, with significant spatial heterogeneity. This pattern was marked by higher carbon storage levels in the north and lower levels in the south, with a distinct demarcation line. The conversion of cropland to construction land is the main factor driving the reduction in carbon storage. (3) Compared with the BAU and EP scenarios, the CP scenario demonstrated a smaller reduction in cropland area, a smaller addition to construction land area, and a lower depletion in the JRB total carbon storage from 2020 to 2035. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the PLUS and InVEST models in analyzing complex ecosystems and offers data support for quantitatively assessing regional ecosystem services. Strict adherence to the cropland replenishment task mandated by the Chinese government is crucial to increase cropland areas in the JRB and consequently enhance the carbon sequestration capacity of its ecosystem. Such efforts are vital for ensuring the food and ecological security of the JRB, particularly in the pursuit of the “dual-carbon” objective.