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Enhancing the ecological ability of Permeable Pavements Systems (PPS) as urban stormwater Green infrastructure
Get PDFStormwater and urban surface runoff often transport contaminants such as hydrocarbons and heavy metals into natural watercourses and hydrosystems. A surge in impermeable surfaces covering natural vegetated surfaces is leading to an increase in flooding. Permeable pavement systems (PPS) such as a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) provides an ecological friendly solution in addressing the surge of stormwater runoff, surface water flooding an improving downstream water quality. Permeable pavement systems have emerged as a sustainable solution for stormwater management in urban areas. The principles of permeable pavements include providing a drainage system, improving water quality while maintaining a ground-bearing structure to transport vehicles. PPS are engineered to absorb, infiltrate, and attenuate a considerable amount of stormwater runoff to reduce flooding during storm events. These pavements additionally intercept pollutants because of their discrete particle retention capabilities. The filter media absorbs and remediates impurities, organic compounds, and hydrocarbons within the pavement structure. The research project focused on PPS enhancing stormwater quality which are also structurally viable, comparing subgrade and sub-base layers within the pavement structure and the ability to intercept various water pollutants and parameters from urban stormwater runoff. Two large-scale pilot PPS experimental rigs were designed, constructed, and tested according to British Standards guidelines for pavement designs (BSI, 2016) on the efficacies for improving stormwater treatment using low-carbon construction materials and recycled aggregates (gravel, pea gravel), sand and limestone. Stormwater was retained within the pavement structure for 30 minutes and 90 minutes analysing the outflow concentrations for operating temperatures, colour, pH, turbidity, nitrates (NO3-)., and ammonium (NH⁺₄). It was found that the effluent quality from the permeable pavements is notably superior to that of stormwater runoff without treatment because of the urban runoff impurities being trapped and remediated within the pavement structure. The mean removal efficiencies for turbidity, NO-3, and NH⁺₄ for the pavement systems ranged from 28.2 %, 27 % and 9.2 % for PPS-1 and 21.8 %, 27.3 % and 16.1 % for PPS-2. The T-Test statistical computation for 2 Independent Means of the stormwater effluent at significant level of 0.05 (Two-tailed test) and One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed no significant differences in performance of the pavement systems
Abatement and transaction costs of water reallocation
Get PDFWater reallocations have costs to the users of water, or abatement costs (e.g., charges designed to marginally increase environmental water flows), but also nontrivial institutional transaction costs (e.g., costs incurred to develop institutions and organizations to support and enforce environmental reallocations). However, institutional transaction costs studies are very limited and those available do not integrate abatement costs measurements, which constrains our ability to assess the performance of water reallocation. This paper presents the first integrated analysis of abatement and transaction costs of water reallocation. The analysis is illustrated with an application to the Douro River Basin, an agricultural basin in central Spain that has recently finished its second planning cycle (2015-2021). First, we use a hydroeconomic model that accounts for the two-way feedback responses between human and water systems to estimate the abatement costs of water reallocations, as well as their effectiveness in achieving the good ecological status of water bodies. Second, we measure and monetize realized institutional transaction costs of river basin planning over time and build on this cutting-edge longitudinal dataset to assess future directions and magnitude of transaction costs. We use this information to assess and rank the performance (through cost-effectiveness) of the water reallocations considered in the latest Douro River Basin Plan under alternative climate change scenarios. We find that under the hypothesis of stationary transaction costs, these can represent between 5.7% and 8.3% of the total reallocation costs (abatement plus transaction costs). This non-trivial magnitude highlights the need to account for both abatement and transaction costs when assessing the performance of water reallocations, and environmental policy overall
ZmD11 Gene Regulates Tobacco Plant Floral Development under Drought Stress
Get PDFMaize is most sensitive to drought stress at the floral stage by reducing tassel and silk quality, and thus improving drought tolerance at this stage may help preserve yield. It has been reported that BRs (brassinosteroids) promote floral development under drought stress. However, the function of the brassinosteroid biosynthesis gene ZmDWARF11 (ZmD11) on floral growth under drought stress has not been elucidated. This study found that under normal growth conditions, the heterologous over-expression of ZmD11 significantly enhanced both the vegetative growth and floral develop-ment of tobacco. Under drought stress, overexpressing ZmD11 reduced stress-induced tobacco flower size reduction, while it did not affect vegetative growth. After drought treatment, the activ-ities of protective enzymes, including CAT (Catalase), SOD (Superoxide Dismutase), and POD (Peroxidase), were higher, while the content of MDA (Malondialdehyde) was lower in ZmD11 over-expression tobacco lines than that in the wild type control. The relative expression of dehy-drin-related genes NtLeat5 and NtERD10 was increased in ZmD11 over-expression tobacco lines compared to that in the control. In summary, we reported that ZmD11 plays a role in tobacco floral development under drought stress. Our data are valuable in understanding the functions of BRs in regulating plant floral development under drought stress
Culture Clash? What cultured meat could mean for UK farming
Get PDFHeadlines
It may one day be possible to substitute meat grown through cell culture imperceptibly for meat from livestock.
Farmers’ concerns about cultured meat go beyond the impact on their bottom line, including that it is:
■ Uncertain: there are still too many unanswered questions.
■ Unreliable: unbiased data is hard to come by.
■ Unrealistic: work is needed to map how new supply chains could work in practice.
■ Unintended: having many potential knock-on effects.
■ Unfair: questioning who benefits from this further industrialisation of our food system.
■ Unnatural: in contrast to the ‘real’ food the farmers produced.
Factors such as business diversification, tenure, assets and contractual relationships
affect farmers’ resilience or precarity to this potentially disruptive technology.
Yet, under the right circumstances, cultured meat could present opportunities for some UK farmers:
■ Sharpening their competitive edge for selling high-value ‘real meat’.
■ Developing potential new markets such as supplying animal cells or raw materials.
■ Generating income from processing crop or animal by-products as ingredients.
■ Harnessing private investment to produce cultured meat on their own farm.
■ Developing new, fairer supply-chain relationships.
Initial analysis suggests that using crop and animal by-products as amino acid sources for cultured meat production could reduce its cost and environmental footprint, while farm-scale production would cost about 30% more than factory-scale.
While some farmers were interested in exploring these possibilities further, caring for livestock remained central to their identity.
Moving beyond a polarised debate would benefit the cultured meat industry, but it may also benefit farming. Advocates of cultured meat can support this through more inclusive communication: acknowledging uncertainties, celebrating farmer innovation and working with honest brokers.
The cultured meat industry and farmers could build common ground through:
■ Joint research and innovation, particularly into waste valorisation and on-farm production.
■ Developing practical partnerships and mechanisms for continued dialogue, such as a platform for interested farmers to connect with cultured meat businesses and a short guide to cultured meat for farmers.
■ Investors expecting cultured meat companies to include farmers in their Environmental, Social and Governance commitments to support a ‘just transition’
Spatial accessibility modeling of agricultural extension services among rural smallholder macadamia farmers in Neno district, Malawi
No full textPurpose: Agricultural extension services (AES) are vital for
enhancing smallholder farmer productivity and food security in Malawi. However, long travel times and staff shortages hinder access to extension services from reaching many rural farmers.This study investigates travel times required by Neno Smallholder Macadamia Cooperative (NESMAC) lead farmers to access AES in Neno district, which is crucial for their role in training other farmers.
Methodology: We use a cost-friction algorithm (AccessMod) and qualitative interviews to examine travel time to NESMAC’s central meeting locations (NCMLs) under four scenarios: walking, bicycling, motorcycle, and vehicle. We also assess the one-hour catchment area for each scenario.
Findings: Our findings reveal inequalities among NESMAC lead
farmers in reaching NCMLs, with travel times ranging from 0.1 to 789 min when walking, improving to 0.1–57 min with motorized transport. The catchment area for reaching NCMLs within a 1-hour travel time increases by 19.5% with bicycles and 100% with motorized transportation, compared to 3.7% when walking. Qualitative data highlights difficulties lead farmers face due to poor infrastructure and inadequate extension service providers.
Practical Implications: Providing bicycles to lead farmers and motorcycles to extension staff can significantly expand NESMAC’s coverage and enable more farmer trainings.
Theoretical Implications: Our research contributes to the
literature on extension and advisory systems, emphasising the importance of evaluating travel times for lead farmers. The cost-friction analysis of travel scenarios provides insights into AES accessibility obstacles and potential solutions
Understanding the roles of economy and society in the relative risks of zoonosis emergence from livestock
Get PDFThe emergence of zoonotic infections that can develop into pathogens of pandemic potential is a major concern for public health. The risks of emergence and transmission relate to multiple factors that range from land use to human–non-human animal contacts. Livestock agriculture plays a potentially significant role in those risks, shaping landscapes and providing hosts that can act as the source or amplifiers of emergent pathogens. The relative risks will be contingent upon the nature of those systems, with comparisons often made between intensive, indoor, biosecure systems and more extensive, outdoor, insecure systems. Microbiological, ecological and veterinary sciences provide useful entry points in specifying and modelling some of the relative risks. Yet, they often do so with little regard for social science inputs and by making assumptions about social and economic conditions. In this article, we respond to recent analyses of relative risks by raising the importance of social and economic drivers of risk. We chart social science insights and research that materially alter the zoonotic risks associated with livestock production. Our purpose is to emphasize the requirement for full appreciation of the social, economic and political components of zoonotic and pandemic risk
Emerging industry classification based on BERT model
No full textAccurate industry classification is central to economic analysis and policy making. Current classification systems, while foundational, exhibit limitations in the face of the exponential growth of big data. These limitations include subjectivity, leading to inconsistencies and misclassifications. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper focuses on utilizing the BERT model for classifying emerging industries through the identification of salient attributes within business descriptions. The proposed method identifies clusters of firms within distinct industries, thereby transcending the restrictions inherent in existing classification systems. The model exhibits an impressive degree of precision in categorizing business descriptions, achieving accuracy rates spanning from 84.11 to 99.66 across all 16 industry classifications. This research enriches the field of industry classification literature through a practical examination of the efficacy of machine learning techniques. Our experiments achieved strong performance, highlighting the effectiveness of the BERT model in accurately classifying and identifying emerging industries, providing valuable insights for industry analysts and policymakers
Characterization of the extracellular proteases from Bacillus inaquosorum strain E1‐8 and its application in the preparation of hydrolysates from plant and animal proteins with antioxidant, antifreeze and anti‐browning properties
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Bacillus inaquosorum strains is widely recognized for their plant-growth-promoting and biocontrol capabilities, yet their roles in protease production remain unclear. This study aims to comprehensively assess the protease-producing performance of B. inaquosorum strain E1-8, while also exploring the novel application of agricultural Bacillus proteases in the preparation of protein hydrolysates for fresh-cut fruits preservation.
RESULTS: Firstly, genomic sequencing revealed the diversity of E1-8 proteases, indicating 15 putative extracellular proteases. Subsequently, the fermentation conditions for E1-8 protease production were optimized, with sweet potato powder and soybean meal identified as the most suitable carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, resulting in a maximum protease activity of 321.48 U/ml. Upon culturing the strain under these optimized conditions, only an S8 family serine protease and an M48 family metalloprotease were revealed by secretomic analysis and protease inhibitor assays. Additionally, the optimal protease conditions for generating protein hydrolysates from soy, pea, fish, and porcine proteins were determined. The molecular weight of the hydrolysates primarily ranged from 2000 to 180 Da, with a total of 17 amino acids identified. The application of these hydrolysates demonstrated a DPPH scavenging activity ranging from 58.64% to 84.12%, significantly reducing of the melting peaks and the freezing points. Furthermore, the browning index of apple slices stored at 4oC decreased by 14.81% to 22.15% on the second day, and similar effects were observed in fresh-cut banana stored at 4oC for 7 days.
CONCLUSION: The protein hydrolysates obtained exhibit remarkable antioxidant, antifreeze, and anti-browning properties for fresh-cut fruits.
Keywords: agricultural microorganism; extracellular proteases; animal and plant protein; protein hydrolysates; fresh-cut fruits; fresh-keeping activit
In-depth simulation of rainfall–runoff relationships using machine learning methods
Get PDFMeasurement inaccuracies and the absence of precise parameters value in conceptual and analytical models pose challenges in simulating the rainfall–runoff modeling (RRM). Accurate prediction of water resources, especially in water scarcity conditions, plays a distinctive and pivotal role in decision-making within water resource management. The significance of machine learning models (MLMs) has become pronounced in addressing these issues. In this context, the forthcoming research endeavors to model the RRM utilizing four MLMs: Support Vector Machine, Gene Expression Programming (GEP), Multilayer Perceptron, and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS). The simulation was conducted within the Malwathu Oya watershed, employing a dataset comprising 4,765 daily observations spanning from July 18, 2005, to September 30, 2018, gathered from rainfall stations, and Kappachichiya hydrometric station. Of all input combinations, the model incorporating the input parameters Qt−1, Qt−2, and R̄t was identified as the optimal configuration among the considered alternatives. The models' performance was assessed through root mean square error (RMSE), mean average error (MAE), coefficient of determination (R2), and developed discrepancy ratio (DDR). The GEP model emerged as the superior choice, with corresponding index values (RMSE, MAE, R2, DDRmax) of (43.028, 9.991, 0.909, 0.736) during the training process and (40.561, 10.565, 0.832, 1.038) during the testing process
Web-based spatial decision support system for optimum route to forest fires: A case of Viphya plantations
Get PDFEfficient access to fire incidents is crucial for successful firefighting operations. This study aimed at developing a web-based spatial decision support system (SDSS) to determine optimal routes to forest fires and risk zones in the Viphya Plantations, Malawi. The system integrates remote sensing analysis to identify fire risk zones and a web-based SDSS to suggest optimal response routes. Remote sensing data was used to map areas prone to forest fires based on factors such as land use/cover type, terrain, and anthropogenic activities. These risk zones were incorporated into the GIS routing decision support system, enabling the generation of optimal routes from fire stations to fire risk zones and reported fire cases. System testing demonstrated the SDSS's capability to provide optimum routing options targeting fire risk hotspots and reported incidents within the plantations. The SDSS facilitated the identification of optimal routes to mitigate transportation costs and provided insights into spatial patterns of fire vulnerability, revealing areas that may be inaccessible within the optimal timeframe. This highlighted the necessity of establishing additional fire stations in high-risk regions to enhance rapid response times. The web-based SDSS proved to be an effective decision support tool for optimizing resource allocation and improving emergency response coordination for fighting forest fires in the Viphya Plantations