Academic literature on the topic 'Environmental impact assessment, database, open source, environmental sensitivity'

Noise is a major source of pollution with a strong impact on health. Noise assessment is therefore a very important issue to reduce its impact on humans. To overcome the limitations of the classical method of noise assessment (such as simulation tools or noise observatories), alternative approaches have been developed, among which is collaborative noise measurement via a smartphone. Following this approach, the NoiseCapture application was proposed, in an open science framework, providing free access to a considerable amount of information and offering interesting perspectives of spatial and temporal noise analysis for the scientific community. After more than 3 years of operation, the amount of collected data is considerable. Its exploitation for a sound environment analysis, however, requires one to consider the intrinsic limits of each collected information, defined, for example, by the very nature of the data, the measurement protocol, the technical performance of the smartphone, the absence of calibration, the presence of anomalies in the collected data, etc. The purpose of this article is thus to provide enough information, in terms of quality, consistency, and completeness of the data, so that everyone can exploit the database, in full control.

This review contains analysis and generalization of data about aquatic ecotoxicity of metal nanoparticles study. This study showed the effect of their impact on the viability of protozoa, algae, microbial communities. A multi-level approach proves to be important as it considers the main characteristics of the studied materials: solubility, agglomeration, degradation. The transformation in the aquatic environment is important in the study of aquatic ecotoxicity. For assessing the state of environment in ecotoxicological experiments, the Great Daphnia (Daphnia magna) was used as a critical organism of the freshwater ecosystem, due to its high sensitivity to environmental pollution, small body size, and short lifespan. In this regard, numerous studies on the effect of nanoparticles on the state of aquatic ecosystem are carried out on Daphnia magna. The review presents some methodological approaches to test the toxicity of nanoparticles in aquatic environment and assessing their stability. It is proposed to carry out a total assessment of the effect based on the content of pollutants in water with different toxic potentials, given that organisms, including aquatic organisms, are rarely exposed to certain chemicals. A promising approach to the assessment of cytotoxicity is high-throughput screening (HTS), which offers the opportunity to quickly test the effects of nanoparticles on bacteria in parallel in several concentrations. Algae are the most important participants in ecosystem and main components of the food chain. It allows recommending them as a marker when monitoring the environmental pollution by metal nanoparticles. Particular attention is paid to perspectives for further wider use of nanostructured products as adsorbents in wastewater treatment and recultivation processes. Search and selection of sources for review carried out in open databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and RSCI (Russian Science Citation Index) for 2007 - 2018 period.

Research and development in hydroinfomatics can play an important role in environmental impact assessment by integrating physically-based models, data-driven models and other Information and Communication Tools (ICT). An illustration is given in this paper describing the developments around the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to support the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. SWAT operates on the river basin scale and includes processes for the assessment of complex diffuse pollution; it is open-source software, which allows for site-specific modifications to the source and easy linkage to other hydroinformatics tools. A crucial step in the world-wide applicability of SWAT was the integration of the model into a GIS environment, allowing for a quick model set-up using digital information on terrain elevation, land use and management, soil properties and weather conditions. Model analysis tools can be integrated with SWAT to assist in the tedious tasks of model calibration, parameter optimisation, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis and allows better understanding of the model before addressing scientific and societal questions. Finally, further linkage of SWAT to ecological assessment tools, Land Use prediction tools and tools for Optimal Experimental Design shows that SWAT can play an important role in multi-disciplinary eco-environmental impact assessment studies.

At present, reducing the impact of the construction industry on the environment is the key to achieving sustainable development. Countries all over the world are using software systems for bridge environmental impact assessment. However, due to the complexity and discreteness of environmental factors in the construction industry, they are difficult to update and determine quickly, and there is a phenomenon of data missing in the database. Most of the lost data are optimized by Monte Carlo simulation, which greatly reduces the reliability and accuracy of the research results. This paper uses Bayesian advanced fuzzy mathematics theory to solve this problem. In the research, a Bayesian fuzzy mathematics evaluation and a multi-level sensitivity priority discrimination model are established, and the weights and membership degrees of influencing factors were defined to achieve comprehensive coverage of influencing factors. With the support of theoretical modelling, software analysis and fuzzy mathematics theory are used to comprehensively evaluate all the influencing factors of the five influencing stages in the entire life cycle of the bridge structure. The results show that the material manufacturing, maintenance, and operation of the bridge still produce environmental pollution; the main source of the emissions exceeds 53% of the total emissions. The effective impact factor reaches 3.01. At the end of the article, a big data sensitivity model was established. Through big data innovation and optimization analysis, traffic pollution emissions were reduced by 330 tonnes. Modeling of the comprehensive research model; application; clearly confirms the effectiveness and practicality of the Bayesian network fuzzy number comprehensive evaluation model in dealing with uncertain factors in the evaluation of the sustainable development of the construction industry. The research results have made important contributions to the realization of the sustainable development goals of the construction industry.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington manages one of New Zealand’s Nationally Significant Taxonomic Collections and Databases. The NIWA Invertebrate Collection (NIC) maintains data for over 125,000 (and growing) marine invertebrate specimens from over 46,000 localities in New Zealand, the Ross Sea portion of the Antarctic and the wider South West Pacific. This data is managed using a Specify Software database. NIC managers are often requested to provide large data extracts from specific regions of the New Zealand zone for a variety of uses, from biodiversity checklists of benthic protected areas, to the environmental impact assessment of commercial activities on areas of seabed. Using a built-in query to extract relevant records based on geographic coordinates is straightforward for data constrained in a single square box, but requests for data are usually from within multiple polygons and require significant data grooming and refining once extracted to become useful. Using the open source GIS program Quantum-GIS (QGIS), we present a flexible and generic approach to map based access to collection databases. A direct OpenGIS Simple Features Reference Implementation Virtual Data Source (OGRVRT) link from the Specify database into QGIS was established so that a user can visualise the entire current collection holdings on a map. As changes are made to object data or new records are added these will update instantly on the map, which assists with immediate validation of data and prevents the need to re-export data. Collection object data fields can be added as required and labelled differentially to visualise patterns, and the data can either be exported to a file from selected areas using map tools, or can be used to produce publication quality maps. This is an ideal collection management tool for mapping and visualisation, which will improve the accuracy, access and use of the data.

Soils represent a considerable part of the natural resources of Hungary. Consequently, rational land use and proper soil management – to guarantee normal soil functions – are important elements of sustainable (agricultural) development, having special importance both in the national economy and in environment protection.The main soil functions in the biosphere are as follows: conditionally renewable natural resource; reactor, transformer and integrator of the combined influences of other natural resources (solar radiation, atmosphere, surface and subsurface waters, biological resources), place of „sphere-interactions”; medium for biomass production, primary food-source of the biosphere; storage of heat, water and plant nutrients; natural filter and detoxication system, which may prevent the deeper geological formations and the subsurface waters from various pollutants; high capacity buffer medium, which may prevent or moderate the unfavourable consequences of various environmental stresses; significant gene-reservoir, an important element of biodiversity.Society utilizes these functions in different ways (rate, method, efficiency) throughout history, depending on the given natural conditions and socio-economic circumstances. In many cases the character of the particular functions was not properly taken into consideration during the utilization of soil resources, and the misguided management resulted in their over-exploitation, decreasing efficiency of one or more soil functions, and – over a certain limit – serious environmental deterioration.Soil resources are threatened by the following environmental stresses:– soil degradation processes;– extreme moisture regime;– nutrient stresses (deficiency or toxicity);– environmental pollution.Environmental stresses caused by natural factors or human activities represent an increasing ecological threat to the biosphere, as well as a socio-economic risk for sustainable development, including rational land use and soil management.The stresses are caused by the integrated impacts of various soil properties, which are the results of soil processes (mass and energy regimes, abiotic and biotic transport and transformation and their interactions) under the combined influences of soil forming factors. Consequently, the control of soil processes is a great challenge and the main task of soil science and soil management in sustainable development.The efficient control of these processes necessitates the following consecutive steps:• registration of facts and consequences (information on land and soil characteristics, land use, cropping pattern, applied agrotechnics, yields, with their spatial and temporal variability);• evaluation of potential reasons (definition and quantification of soil processes, analysis of influencing factors and their mechanisms);• assessment of the theoretical, real, rational and economic possibilities for the control of soil processes (including their risk-assessment and impact analysis);• elaboration of efficient technologies for the „best” control alternatives (best management practice).Scientifically based planning and implementation of sustainable land use and rational soil management to ensure desirable soil functions, without any undesirable environmental side-effects, require adequate soil information. In the last years such data were organized into a computer-based GIS soil database in Hungary, giving opportunities for the quantification, analysis, modelling and forecasting of the studied environmental stresses and for the efficient and scientifically based prevention, elimination or reduction of environmental stresses and their unfavourable ecological and economical consequences.Special attention was paid to the assessment of various soil degradation processes, as: (1) soil erosion by water or wind; (2) soil acidification; (3) salinization and/or alkalization; (4) physical degradation (structure destruction, compaction); (5) extreme moisture regime: drought sensitivity and waterlogging hazard; (6) biological degradation; (7) unfavourable changes in the plant nutrient regime; (8) decrease of natural buffering capacity, (9) soil (and water) pollution.The actions against undesirable environmental stresses and their unfavourable consequences are important elements of sustainable, efficient, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound crop production and agricultural development. These are joint tasks of the state, decision makers on various levels, the land owners, the land users and – to a certain extent – of each member of the society.

The present work demonstrates the impact of future airframe and propulsion technologies on the sustainability of potential future medium-range commercial jets with design specifications similar to the Airbus A320-200. Advanced airframe and engine technologies include laminar flow control (LFC), active load alleviation, new materials and structures, and ultra-high bypass ratio turbofan engines. Two aircraft configurations with various design options were compared to determine potentially the best option for the mission profile, which tends to minimize the environmental impact. Each configuration was designed to balance the equivalent CO2 emissions and Direct Operating Costs. Technology sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate the significance of particular technology combinations and determine the ones that improve aircraft sustainability the most. All studies were performed at a conceptual design level using a multi-fidelity design approach to investigate the system-level effects of the technologies. The open-source aircraft design environment SUAVE was extended and integrated with other aircraft design and analysis tools to obtain all required correlations. The aircraft with advanced technologies showed an average reduction in equivalent CO2 emissions of 36% and a 23% reduction in DOC compared to the reference aircraft for a similar mission profile, although aircraft with future technologies may have a 43% higher production cost. The given results indicate that the application of technologies may be commercially successful if technologies achieve expected performance values, despite high development costs. Finally, the technology sensitivity analysis demonstrated the most significant influence of engine-related technologies and laminar flow control compared to other technologies considered in this research. Depending on design and integration complexities, engine technologies can be more achievable in the near future and can substantially reduce the overall emission level.

Vehicular traffic is one of the major sources of air pollution in European cities. This work aims to understand which characteristics of the urban environment could influence mobility-related air pollution, quantify the health impacts of exposure to traffic-derived PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations, and assess the potential health benefits expected from traffic interventions. The health benefits modeled are intended to provide a set of comparable data to support decision-makers and encourage informed decision-making to design healthier cities. Targeting a large geographical coverage, 12 European cities from 9 countries were comparatively assessed in terms of mean daily traffic volume/area, the number of public transport stops/area, and the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas, among other urban indicators. This was implemented using an open-source data mining tool, which was seen as a useful engine to identify potential strategies to improve air quality. The comparison of urban indicators in the selected cities evidenced two trends: (a) cities with the most heterogeneous distribution of public transport stops, as an indicator of poor accessibility, are also those with the lowest proportion of km dedicated to cycleways and footways, highlighting the need in these cities for more sustainable mobility management; and (b) the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas may influence the share of journeys by bicycle, pointing out that promoting the perception of green routes is relevant to enhance the potential of active transport modes. Socioeconomic factors can be key determinants of the urban indicators and would need further consideration. For the health impact assessment (HIA), two baseline scenarios were evaluated and compared. One is based on mean annual traffic contributions to PM2.5 concentrations in each target city (ranging between 1.9 and 13 µg/m3), obtained from the literature, and the second is grounded on mean annual NO2 concentrations at all available traffic and urban background stations within each city (17.2–83.5 µg/m3), obtained from the European Environment Agency database. The intervention scenarios modeled were designed based on traffic mitigation strategies in the literature, and set to ranges of 6–50% in traffic-derived PM2.5 concentrations and of 4–12.5% in NO2 concentrations. These scenarios could result in only a 1.7% (0.6–4%) reduction in premature mortality due to exposure to traffic-derived PM2.5, and 1.0% (0.4–2%) due to exposure to NO2, as the mean for all the cities. This suggests that more ambitious pollution abatement strategies should be targeted.

AbstractCrop models have evolved over the past decade to incorporate more soil-related processes. While this may open avenues to support farmers regarding fertilization practices, it also widens the pitfalls related to model parametrization. Open-access georeferenced soil databases are often a solution for modelers to derive soil parameters. However, they can potentially add to model uncertainty depending on database resolution and the variability of the characteristics it contains. Fertimap is an online spatial database recently released in Morocco. In this study, we aim at assessing how Fertimap could support the use of crop model in the rainfed wheat production areas of Morocco. Data including local soil analysis, farmers’ practices, wheat biomass, and yield were collected on 126 farmers’ fields distributed across the rainfed wheat production area in Morocco from 2018 to 2020. Data were first used to parameterize, calibrate, and assess the model, using site-specific data to infer soil parameters. Then, the impact of soil data source on model uncertainty was assessed by rerunning the simulations while using alternatively locally measured soil inputs or inputs extracted from Fertimap. To disentangle the effect of data source from model sensitivity on model outputs, the model’s sensitivity to labile phosphorus, pH, and organic carbon parameters was also tested. The APSIM-wheat model was found to reasonably simulate wheat phenological stages, biomass, and yield. The comparison of model outputs using one or another source of soil data indicated that using Fertimap had no significant effect on the model’s outputs. This study provides the first assessment of the APSIM-wheat model for simulation of widely used wheat cultivars in Moroccan rainfed areas. It is also the first proof of the practical utility of Fertimap database for modeling purposes in Morocco. This preliminary study delivers a robust basis for model-assisted agricultural advising to take off in Morocco.

Abstract Purpose Landfilling can result in a loss in revenue that would otherwise have been accrued from recycling plastic waste, loss in potential jobs, and groundwater contamination. Plastics in landfills may also eventually find their way into marine environments, where they can be damaging to animals. This work aims to establish the environmental sustainability of current plastic waste management practices in South Africa using the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) as a case study. Methodology Five scenarios encompassing combinations of landfilling, mechanical recycling, incineration with energy recovery, gasification, and use of plastic waste in a cement kiln were assessed through an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (e-LCA). Scenarios were developed based on an extensive literature review, current practices in South Africa and Europe, and the country’s National Waste Management strategy, which aims to achieve “zero waste to landfill”. SimaPro 9.1.1 software and the Ecoinvent Database were used to assess the life cycle impacts of each scenario over seven impact categories. The ReCiPe endpoint method, Egalitarian version, was employed in determining the impact potentials. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to evaluate the model’s robustness. Results and discussion Overall, the impact assessment results, including damage assessments and single score results, revealed that moving away from landfilling and combining mechanical recycling, incineration, gasification, and use of plastic waste (PW) as solid refuse fuel in a cement kiln is the least environmentally impactful scenario when managing plastic waste. Landfilling alone was the worst-performing scenario, resulting in adverse effects on human health, ecosystems, and resource depletion. This agrees with the waste hierarchy. On sensitivity analysis, the increase in transportation distances and reduction in market substitution factor in mechanical recycling did not change the ranking of scenarios despite reducing the net benefits to the environment. Including open dumping as an end-of-life scenario significantly increased the negative impact of the current plastic waste management scenario being practised in South Africa, while assuming a 100% mechanical recycling rate had the least environmental impact when compared to the other modelled scenarios. Conclusions The current plastic waste management practices in South Africa were found to be environmentally unsustainable based on the modelled scenarios, and a move away from landfilling is encouraged. The outcomes of this study will assist policymakers and other stakeholders in making informed decisions based on scientific evidence when formulating sustainability-related waste management policies.

This thesis describe the development of a database to support the environmental impact assessment procedure. This subject was addressed through an initial analysis of the regulations governing the environment protection and the environmental impact assessment of a work or project, analyzing first the framework at a community level, and then the various laws and directives regulating this issue in Italy, and particularly in Tuscany. Subsequently, the usefulness of the application of Geographical Information Systems to the procedure of environmental impact assessment was examined, identifying the strengths and limitations. Then, the theme of the design of a database was analyzed in dept and described in detail, analyzing in particular the usefulness of a database in the various phases that make up the environmental impact assessment procedure. The methodological approach used was based on the identification of the potential and the abilities of a territory to incorporate the realization of a project or a work , determining the constraints and the limiting factors in relation to its characteristics and the state of its resources. In agreement with this method of evaluation, a series of themes were identified for a specific area, from which to draw the relevant information for the purpose of the assessment procedure and for draw up a specific database for the area of interest. The project chosen for the development of the database and for its application concerns the morphological restoration of the former lignite mine of S. Barbara a Cavriglia (AR), in order to make it useful again for production and residential purposes. The Centre for GeoTechnologies of University of Siena and Enel society both collaborate to the project. To project the database, a requirements analysis was necessary in order to identify the properties and functionality of the database, identifying the types of information needed for a first design. Then, the areas characterized by the Environmental Impact Study were schematized (for example Soil and Subsoil Theme, Water Theme, Cultural Heritage Theme…), relating to the reorganization plan of the former mine of S. Barbara and, for each area, the types of information needed have been identified. The design of the database was performed through a first conceptual design phase, which was followed by a phase of logical and physical design. In the three steps of the design, only entirely open source software have been used. For conceptual design the Open Model Sphere tool was used, which also allowed a first translation of the conceptual model to a logical scheme. The database was then implemented, from a physical point of view, using PostgreSQl with spatial extention PostGIS, in order to interface with spatial data. The database was then implemented exclusively for the territorial area corresponding to the area affected by the project of rehabilitation of the former mine. On the basis of the previously identified areas, and especially after the analysis of the Environmental Impact Study of the project, all the map data, freely distributed by various agencies (authorization to the free consultation, extraction and reproduction after the source is acknowledged), were collected. These data are considered to be necessary for a Environmental Impact Study regardless of the type of project subjected to study. After the implementation of the database, a methodology to be able to classify the territory of interest on the basis of the environmental sensitivity criterion was identified, in relation to the different areas identified in the Environmental Impact Study. The procedures have been developed by interfacing the database designed with the use of GIS open source software Quantum GIS. In particular, considering the consistent availability of freely distributed map data relating to the cultural heritage, a methodology for the classification of area based on the environmental sensitivity related to its archaeological risk has been identified.