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Evaluation of Permeable Pavement Systems (PPS) as Best Management Practices for Stormwater Runoff Control: A Review
Get PDFA comprehensive study was conducted to provide research clarifications and evaluations of measures aimed at controlling stormwater runoff from roads and highways. The study specifically focuses on sustainable strategies, particularly permeable pavement systems (PPS), as a solution for stormwater management within the framework of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). This research paper offers insight into PPS effectiveness in addressing aspects such as hydrological features, environmental impact, and overall functionality. Comparing with traditional methods of stormwater management with modern PPS, this review highlights the benefits of PPS and how it has demonstrated positive impacts, influencing the stormwater pollutant removal efficacies, reduction in runoff volumetric flowrates, and benefits of increased groundwater recharge. The literature examined highlights the characteristics of PPS, and its permeability and stormwater retention capacities. The findings from this research study emphasize how PPS as a SuDS contributes to effective stormwater management from roads. Furthermore, the study explores how PPS mitigates urban heat island (UHI) impacts by minimizing heat absorption and promoting cooling effects, while simultaneously filtering pollutants, in reducing heat-related urban pollution with specific focus on interlocking permeable pavements. The research indicates that PPS continues to play a crucial role in managing stormwater runoff, providing solutions to flooding challenges reducing runoff and improving stormwater quality through pollutant retention and removal. The benefits of PPS contribute significantly towards creating more eco-friendly environments and green urban ecosystems, yielding practical, environmental, and financial benefits
Exploring Granular Filter Media in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) for Stormwater PollutantAdsorption: A Pilot Study
No full textGranular filter media are integral to sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) for their efficiency in removing pollutants from urban runoff. This study focuses on understanding the filtration processes within these media by combining a pilot experimental study with a modeling approach. The experimental study involved characterizing the physical and hydraulic properties of various granular filter media materials, including sand, pea-gravel, gravel, and geotextile membranes. Three laboratory-scale stormwater filtration rigs were tested to evaluate the filter me-dia's pollutant removal capacity and hydraulic performance. This work presents a phenomenological model that predicts the spatial variation in the concentrations of stormwater and urban runoff substances, specifically nitrate ions (NO 3-), phosphate ions (PO 4 3-), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and suspended solids, by studying their concentration profiles. The stormwater quality model was used to predict the concentration profiles for stormwater with an average inflow consisting of 2.9 mg/L nitrates, 3.4 mg/L phosphate ions, 225 mg/L COD, and 3.3 mg/L of suspended solids. The predicted outlet concentrations matched well with measured experimental data. The results showed that adding geotextile membranes to a granular filter significantly improves its ability to adsorb dissolved species for stormwater applications. This research highlights the importance of understanding the physical and hydraulic properties of granular filter media and their impact on stormwater pollutant removal efficiency. The developed model can assist in the design and optimization of stormwater treatment systems by predicting the performance of different filter media materials, allowing for informed decision-making and improved system functionality
UK farmer and grower research priorities
Get PDFFarmers and growers in the UK are facing rapid changes in policy and trade on top of the emerging pressures relating to climate, nature and public health. There is a need for strategic engagement to ensure that their needs influence UK research and innovation priorities. To address this gap, a group of farming and research organisations have collaborated to understand research and innovation priorities for farmers and growers across the UK. Insights were gathered from 92 farmers and growers, representing all major agricultural sectors across a wide diversity of farming systems, at 12 semi-structured workshops. There are also insights from businesses upstream and downstream of agriculture, as well as from environmental and other organisations that influence the industry’s direction.
What we found:
• The overarching themes highlighted by farmers and growers in a previous process, in 2013, remain topical today.
• The specific priorities within those themes, however, have shifted, particularly with respect to precision agriculture, and training and communications.
• The most common priorities were around ‘how’ research and farming is done, rather than ‘what’ it does, with adoption, farmer-led research, and future skills mentioned most often.
• The farmers and growers we spoke with are interested in sustainable agriculture, including regenerative farming. In particular, they are interested in understanding socio-economic barriers to sustainable practices and the value of environmentally sustainable farming.
• Farmers also raised challenges associated with adapting to new regulations, climate change and public perception.
• Agricultural research conducted by universities has limited overlap with the priorities highlighted by farmers and growers.
What this means:
The differences that this project highlights between the priorities of farmers and growers, and those of researchers and funders, imply there is potential to:
• Engage farmers and growers more in innovation that reaches beyond the farm gate, relating to nutrition, waste and circularity, food systems and supply chain development.
• Involve farmers and growers more in the development, design and delivery of research, enabling dialogue about priorities in the shorter and longer term, and enhancing the practical relevance of research.
• Integrate the social sciences through greater emphasis on interdisciplinary research, given how focused farmers and growers are on questions of adoption, accessibility and impact
Entrepreneurship in times of crises – how access to finance impacts on business operations
Get PDFTimes of crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic create considerable challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises in particular. This also applies to agri-SMEs in Africa. In order to suggest effective policy and investment responses, our authors took a look at how financing and coping strategies relate to one another. Insights from field studies in Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe
Automatic Horse Blink Detection Using Computer Vision and Deep Nets
Get PDFMeasurements of dopaminergic activity in the central nervous system provide valuable information about animal health and welfare. In horses, it has been shown that blink rate is correlated to dopaminergic activity and can be used as a non-invasive biomarker. In this paper, we propose two new algorithms for video-based automatic blink detection in horses. The first algorithm employs an OpenCV object tracker to localize the eye and detects blinks from local color changes over successive frames. The second algorithm is based on a neural net classifier which categories each video frame into either “eye is open” or “eye is closed” categories. It then clusters “eye is closed” frames into distinct blink events. Both algorithms also run a post-processing method to improve prediction accuracy by removing outliers and merging neighboring clusters that belong to the same blink event. The test data set consisted of eight RGB video recordings from three healthy horses moving freely in outdoor environments. Our results show that the first algorithm had better accuracy (81% > 31%, p<0.01) and lower error rate (27% < 69%, p<0.01) than the second algorithm. This study is part of an ongoing work to develop an cheap, non-invasive and automated health monitoring system for horses and other bovine animals.
Keywords: object tracking, automatic blink detection, eye-tracking, machine learning, image processing, deep learnin
Capturing the complexity of veterinarians’ antibiotic prescribing practices in the livestock sector: a meta-ethnography across contexts
Get PDFStrategies and policies to tackle the global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance are increasingly addressing antimicrobial use prescribing practices in both the human and animal health sectors. Veterinarians’ antibiotic prescribing practices are influenced by different factors and conditioned by the context within which antibiotic prescribing decisions are made, complexifying the implementation of behaviour change interventions. A better understanding of these factors could therefore help in the design and application of such interventions. Meta-ethnography was used to explore the antibiotic prescribing behaviour of veterinarians in different contexts and to construct a new conceptual framework. A search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection and SciELO Citation Index between 2016 and 2024. The final sample consisted of 29 articles, 27 of which were selected from the 561 articles identified in the search and 2 of which were added by the authors. The results were synthesized and presented through four contextual situations influencing antibiotic prescribing by livestock veterinarians: priorities and pressures, uncertain field conditions, systemic challenges and an enabling environment. The results are presented as a conceptual framework that views veterinarians’ antibiotic prescribing behaviour as dynamic, adapting in response to the different contextual situations they encounter. The findings provide an integrated and contextualized understanding of veterinarians’ antibiotic prescribing behaviours, which could be implemented to facilitate the development and application of future antimicrobial stewardship interventions
Utilisation of Solar Energy Driven Photochemical Processes for River Water Purification
No full textMore than two billion people across the world do not have access to potable water. Communities globally are struggling with epidemic level disease outbreaks, limited water supply among other large-scale public health risks. Water is essential for life and several regions across the world have poor infrastructure for the management of potable water resources and lack critical wastewater treatment facilities. As the population of the Earth grows rampantly, the demand for water resources is increasing exponentially. Large-scale critical infrastructure chains are required to produce potable water from raw water sources, and developing countries continue to struggle economically and cannot afford the same treatment chains as the developed world. This research project evaluated the feasibility of two photocatalytic / photo-Fenton solar reactors on their capabilities to breakdown water contaminants present in natural hydro-systems and freshwater resources namely rivers in Chatham, Kent, England between September 2015 and August 2017. The photo-Fenton reaction and solar-photochemical reactors were designed, constructed, and tested for the removal efficiencies of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates via LCK curvetted tests, in addition to turbidity and colour. The water quality analysis and results showed that oversaturation of the photo-Fenton reagents reduces the effectiveness of the reaction, and that finding the correct chemical balance has a greater impact on the removal efficiencies of the five pollutants than the use of ultraviolet (UV) light catalyst. Under the conditions set by this research project, a smaller diameter of piping yields the best removal efficiencies of pollutants. The optimal photochemical balance of H2O2: Fe2+ has more of an impact on the effectiveness of treatment than the use of UV radiation. The ideal H2O2: Fe2+ ratio for the treatment of river water is close to 100:1 mg/L. The impact of semi-variables such as diameter of pipe and UV influx on the effectiveness of treatment are not noticeable compared to the effect of changing the photo-Fenton chemical ratio. Moreover, the photo-Fenton process’ removal efficiency is directly proportional to the remaining H2O2 concentration, as the photochemical reaction proceeds
Microclimate, an important part of ecology and biogeography
Get PDFAbstractBrief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important?Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terres-trial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next.Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeography: We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how micro-climates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how or-ganisms shape microclimates from the tropics to the poles.Microclimate applications in ecosystem management: Microclimates are also impor-tant in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity.Methods for microclimate science: We showcase the recent advances in data acqui-sition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss micro-climate modelling, mapping and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling and solutions for computa-tional challenges that have pushed the state-of-the-art of the field.What's next?We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further ad-vancing microclimate investigations, applications and methods. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management
Long term effects of treatment and management approaches for impinging dorsal spinous processes in ridden horses
No full textBackground: Impinging dorsal spinous processes (IDSP) are a common cause of pain and loss of performance in sports horses, with a range of surgical and conservative treatments available.
Objectives: Identify relationships between treatment choice and the likelihood of returning to previous level of performance for horses diagnosed with IDSP.
Study design: Cross sectional survey of owners with horses diagnosed with IDSP.
Methods: A 14-question online survey was circulated via social media. Data were collected for 260 horses and analysed for associations between treatment choice and return to pre-diagnosis level of performance.
Results: Just under 50% of horses in the sample returned to their previous level of performance post-treatment. Horses that were treated surgically had twice the odds of returning to their previous level than those that were not, and horses that underwent an exercise rehabilitation programme had 10 times the odds of returning to level.
Main limitations: As this was an owner survey, self-selection bias and recall bias could have influenced the findings.
Conclusions: If the aim is for the horse to return to a competitive career post-treatment, the most appropriate surgical intervention appears to be the best approach, and an exercise rehabilitation plan may have benefit
PARI - Keynote lecture slides : Cultivating Imaginative Cognition: The Time is at Hand!
No full textThis keynote lecture presented the scientific method of J.W. Goethe and gave examples of how he engaged with exact sensorial imagination as an approach to studying the living world