Enviornment Engineering

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This research deals with the surface dynamics and key factors –
hydrological regime, sediment load, and erodibility of floodplain
facies – of frequent channel shifting, intensive meandering, and
lateral instability of the Bhagirathi River in the western part of the
Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD). At present, the floodplain of
the Bhagirathi is categorized as a medium energy (specific stream
power of 10–300 W m−2), non-cohesive floodplain, which exhibits a
mixed-load and a meandering channel, an entrenchment ratio >2.2,
width–depth ratio >12, sinuosity >1.4, and channel slope <0.02. In
the study area, since 1975, four meander cutoffs have been shaped
at an average rate of one in every 9–10 years. In the active meander
belt and sand-silt dominated floodplains of GBD, frequent shifting
of the channel and meander migration escalate severe bank erosion
(e.g. 2.5 × 106 m3 of land lost between 1999 and 2004) throughout the
year. Remote sensing based spatio-temporal analysis and stratigraphic
analysis reveal that the impact of the Farakka barrage, completed in
1975, is not the sole factor of downstream channel oscillation; rather,
hydrogeomorphic instability induced by the Ajay–Mayurakshi fluvial
system and the erodibility of floodplain sediments control the channel
dynamics of the study area.

This work consists to evaluate the sensitivity of the Holm oak and Aleppo pine forestry vegetation against the fire in the region of Constantine (north-east Algerian). The shrub and herbaceous stratums are the most vulnerable and inflammables. The parameters analysis and the follow up  of the foliage water content of the flammability and the combustibility is achieved during whole the year on the evergreen oak, Aleppo pine and a few number of secondary kinds of its floristic accompanying. The sensitivity of the foliage depend on the species, it is optimal during the summer. The time of flammability varies between 30 and 120 seconds in winter, even though the combustibility is between 40 and 500 seconds for the same periods. Theses  variations allows to get noticed of the homogeneous groups for the litter, the bark and the other species like Asparagus acutifolium, Astragalus armatus Calycotome spinosa Ampelodesma mauritanicum, Cistus villosus, Pistacia lentiscus and Arbutus unedo. A classification of the different vegetables species is established according to studied parameters of the sensitivity degree. The air maximum temperature of the month is the hottest and is varied between (39-42°C). During the summer, the flammability is 60 seconds for Pinus halepensis and 20 seconds for Quercus ilex concerning the combustibility; it oscillates respectively between 200-400 seconds and 200-300 seconds for the two forestry species. The risk calculation by the CEMAGREF method is higher in the summer. The combustibility  knowledge of the flammability is due to the  foliage water content, linked to the species and the vegetable formation that are transposable for the vegetation map which allowed to class the planting by big flammability categories.

Keywords: susceptibility to fire, Holm oak, Aleppo pine, water content, flammability, combustibility risk.

The capitalist system and its supposed modernization of the most ancient systems wants something for the crust of our planet which is completely irrational. The question is no longer about sharing out the product of such an enterprise. It is no longer a question of the economy, understood as dispute about mercantile or monetary wealth. It is a matter of physically introducing a totally different type of technical equipment for the soil and the subsoil. Perhaps we can leave some of the existing equipment standing here and there for archaeological purposes, some masterpieces of the bourgeois epoch maybe, so that those who accomplished this centuries-old work, only possible after the world revolutionary explosion, can remember them.

Abstract— Groundwater is considered as one of the most important water resources in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (In order to monitor, manage and protect groundwater resources, this research suggests a methodology that implements new advanced modeling techniques in terms of monitoring, analysis, prediction and treatment. The current monitoring process and data sampling in most of the groundwater wells are arbitrary. Therefore, this imposed a challenge of a frequently monitoring on a periodic time-base to obtain the optimum sampling frequency for groundwater quality parameters. Then, analyzing those parameters was proposed using Geostatistics techniques to generate a reliable 3D prediction model developed based on measured field groundwater parameters with the assistance of Global Positioning System and Geographic Information System - techniques. The model was used to build a dynamic system that capable to reveal the changes in any parameter in the form of contour maps and related attributes. After that, to predict the probable changes in the groundwater properties, the leakage of toxic-trace elements and heavy metals due to the expected industrial and human activities in Sudiar Industrial and Business City, data fusion techniques were employed to develop virtual instrument to predict and monitor groundwater variations. Finally, a novel nanotechnology treatment with a photocatalyst of Titania nanoparticles was suggested to treat the groundwater from the toxic-trace elements and heavy metals.

Este trabajo recopila y analiza la información disponible acerca de los desastres naturales reportados en el departamento de Antioquia, exceptuando los municipios del Valle de Aburrá, entre los años de 1920 y 1999, empleando el software DesInventar. Se reportaron 1.701 desastres naturales en los 115 municipios correspondientes al área de trabajo. El 45% corresponde a deslizamientos, el 17% a inundaciones, el 15% a avenidas torrenciales, el 7% a sismos; el 16% corresponde a ¿otros¿ desastres como vendavales, tempestades, marejadas, heladas, granizadas, sequías, licuación de suelos, incendios urbanos y forestales, volcanismo de lodo, socavación de orillas y caídas de rocas. Lo anterior produjo 1.233 muertes, y afectó a 99.100 individuos y a 1.418 familias. La mayor cantidad de pérdidas humanas la aportaron los deslizamientos con el 58%; las avenidas torrenciales con el 22%; las inundaciones con 17%; los ¿otros¿ con el 2% y el 1% restante debido a los sismos. Con respecto a las viviendas, se tuvo un total de 13.106 viviendas afectadas y 835 viviendas destruidas principalmente por los sismos (48%); las inundaciones (31%) y los deslizamientos (12%). Con respecto a las viviendas destruidas la distribución fue de la siguiente manera: los sismos con el 37%, las inundaciones con el 36% y los deslizamientos con el 10% respectivamente, un 5% restante debido a las avenidas torrenciales. Con este trabajo se pudo constatar varios puntos importantes, dentro de los cuales se destacan que la tendencia de la frecuencia de los desastres naturales va en aumento así como los efectos tanto en las personas como en las viviendas y en la infraestructura; dos de las principales causas de los desastres naturales siguen siendo los fenómenos hidrometeorológicos como las lluvias y las actividades antrópicas como son los malos manejos de tierras, la deforestación, el sobrepastoreo, la expansión urbana sin planificación ni ordenación del territorio, etcétera. Las pérdidas económicas fueron aproximadamente de unos 25.000 millones de pesos colombianos (a pesos del año 2000), cifra bastante baja si se compara con la gran cantidad de desastres naturales (1.701) reportados entre 1.920 y 1.999

PACS: 89.60.Ec, 89.60.Gg

Restoring Degraded Urban Ecosystems
Summary

Three primary foci:
1. Restoring ecological succession
2. Restoring species diversity and abundance
3. Undoing unnatural selection

Three design paradigms / tools:
1. Biomimicry
2. Ecological Performance Standards
3. Genius of Place

Cities are essentially ecosystems operating at sub-optimal levels, because of an acute deficit in life-supporting structure. Services provided by these ecosystems are no longer available to enable life to not only survive, but thrive. Restoration ecologists seek to replenish the natural ecosystem service deficits caused by man’s unsustainable design and the disconnected web of life.

A major component which facilitates the depth and breadth of ecological complexity is ecological succession. Cities, because of their acutely disrupted and unnatural state prevent ecological succession from naturally occurring. Many parts of a city’s ecosystem remain in a juvenile state, and do not go through the cyclical process of succession which brings juvenile ecosystems into mature states.

As a result, there is a loss of species diversity and abundance, the second primary challenge. In addition, cities go through a process of unnatural selection. Not only is there a lack of biodiversity, but certain species that are better adapted to city habitats begin to increase in abundance, and others who are mal-adapted simply disappear.

Lack of species diversity propagates the juvenile stage of succession, and reduces the number of relationships found within city boundaries. Without diversity, a city is less resilient to environmental phenomena such as storm water events, disease and impacts from climate change such as drastic increase or decreases in temperature. Homogeneity leads to a reduction in resilience, and therefore cities are less able to adapt to catastrophic events in a timely and effective manner, as healthy ecosystems are. This places city inhabitants at greater risk.

Our design imperative for the city of the future is, “does it create conditions conducive to life?”, both human and non-human alike. One of the greatest challenges to restoring a disturbed ecosystem is bringing back those same conditions.

Restoring ecological function that is unique to one geographical area is something biomimics call “Genius of Place”. The genius of any one place is that the organisms and system dynamics that exist there, exist only in that one “place” in the world. When biomimics look at a damaged ecosystem, they are guided by local “Ecological Performance Standards” in order to determine what needs to be restored.  These measurements can provide clear numerical guidance against which cities can benchmark their ecological restoration efforts.

When guided by ecological performance standards, we look for metrics including how many millimeters of soil were in that particular city/place, how many tons of carbon, how much water was stored, how much air needs to be purified? It is not enough to have greenroofs and walls, we need to ask how a building will store carbon. We need cities to perform like ecosystems, not just look like them.

Although we cannot replace and restore 3.8 billion years of evolution, we can endeavor to replace the key ingredients which once existed, and succeeded in that one particular part of the globe. Although we cannot reestablish all of these “thousand invisible chords”, as Mr. Eric Sanderson calls them, we can endeavor to restore the elements which created them.

As a species, we can utilize innovative and nature-inspired tools such as biomimicry, “Genius of Place” and “Ecological Performance Standards” to restore ecosystems to the point that they are not only no longer damaged, but perform restorative ecosystem services – essentially, help the helpers do their jobs.

Abstract This research deals with the surface dynamics and key factors – hydrological regime, sediment load, and erodibility of floodplain facies – of frequent channel shifting, intensive meandering, and lateral instability of the Bhagirathi River in the western part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD). At present, the floodplain of the Bhagirathi is categorized as a medium energy (specific stream power of 10–300 W m−2), non-cohesive floodplain, which exhibits a mixed-load and a meandering channel, an entrenchment ratio &gt;2.2, width–depth ratio &gt;12, sinuosity &gt;1.4, and channel slope &lt;0.02. In the study area, since 1975, four meander cutoffs have been shaped at an average rate of one in every 9–10 years. In the active meander belt and sand-silt dominated floodplains of GBD, frequent shifting of the channel and meander migration escalate severe bank erosion (e.g. 2.5 × 106 m3 of land lost between 1999 and 2004) throughout the year. Remote sensing based spatio-temporal analysis and stratigraphic analysis reveal that the impact of the Farakka barrage, completed in 1975, is not the sole factor of downstream channel oscillation; rather, hydrogeomorphic instability induced by the Ajay–Mayurakshi fluvial system and the erodibility of floodplain sediments control the channel dynamics of the study area.

— The knowledge and technology development, specifically during the contemporaneity, time of great achievements, and the predominance of rationality that brought contributions and advantages to societies on the one hand, but unpredicted consequences to the people on the other. This text is based on the assumption that environmental speeches are established in the educational field correlating their training goals with the ways of subjectivation in order to bridge the shortfall of human emancipation, which was caused by the development of the technical-instrumental rationality. Thus, the objective is to show that the environmental claim in education is done through concepts and values already consolidated in the literature published in the humanities, taking them as forms of subjectivity, understood here as advertised forms of subject concepts through their concepts. A qualitative approach, following Arendt's conception, is through action (speech) that man is manifested with each other, for man as a being historically constituted is inserted into the world through word and deed. It is through discourse (action) proposed by the Environmental Education through subjectivities, such as citizenship, participation, identity among others, the environmental discourse establishes its training goals in education, introducing an important path of dialogue between the environmental field and educational.Then, the subjectivation shows an important path of the environmental speeches in the educational field. The debate about environmental education which must be mediated by the discussion on the human formation, promoting an emancipation of the subject capable of questioning, discussing and reflecting on the action of individuals in the society, by overtaking the instrumental rationality.

This research deals with the surface dynamics and key factors – hydrological regime, sediment load, and erodibility of floodplain facies – of frequent channel shifting, intensive meandering, and lateral instability of the Bhagirathi River in the western part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD). At present, the floodplain of the Bhagirathi is categorized as a medium energy (specific stream power of 10–300 W m−2), non-cohesive floodplain, which exhibits a mixed-load and a meandering channel, an entrenchment ratio &amp;gt;2.2, width–depth ratio &amp;gt;12, sinuosity &amp;gt;1.4, and channel slope &amp;lt;0.02. In the study area, since 1975, four meander cutoffs have been shaped at an average rate of one in every 9–10 years. In the active meander belt and sand-silt dominated floodplains of GBD, frequent shifting of the channel and meander migration escalate severe bank erosion (e.g. 2.5 × 106 m3 of land lost between 1999 and 2004) throughout the year. Remote sensing based spatio-temporal analysis and stratigraphic analysis reveal that the impact of the Farakka barrage, completed in 1975, is not the sole factor of downstream channel oscillation; rather, hydrogeomorphic instability induced by the Ajay–Mayurakshi fluvial system and the erodibility of floodplain sediments control the channel dynamics of the study area.

Resumo As preocupações em prol do meio ambiente só fazem crescer nos últimos 30 anos e este fato leva a pensar na importância de Sistemas de Gestão efetivos no controle a novas fontes de poluição ou na fiscalização e monitoramento das existentes. Este artigo assim, tem por objetivo desenvolver uma análise crítica a respeito da contribuição de um Sistema de Gestão de Qualidade Laboratorial sobre a tomada de decisão de uma agência ambiental, com base em um estudo de caso sobre a Agência Ambiental Paulista-CETESB, uma vez que as informações fornecidas pelos seus laboratórios norteiam a tomada de decisão do órgão com relação a riscos sócio-ambientais e ocupacionais. Palavras-chaves: Gestão, Qualidade, Laboratórios, CETESB 2, 3 e 4 de Julho de 2009