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Melanism is found in many animal species. This phenomenon is caused by a large amount of melanin pigment and causes an abnormal black or dark brown colour of the outer covers. Melanistic individuals are usually quite rare in nature. However, there are a number of examples indicating that melanistic colouring in animals can be adaptive under certain conditions and be supported by natural selection. These examples include the phenomenon of industrial melanism, described in the birch moth Biston betularia, as well as...

The Vrancea area, is known as a zone with intense and persistent crustal and intermediate seismic activity. The intermediate depth seismicity is concentrated in a high-velocity volume, an almost vertical body in fact a sinking lithosphere not completely detached, in the depth range from about 60 to 200 km. The epicentral zone is situated in an area of about 40 пїЅ 84 km2. The present tectonic of the Vrancea area is a result of a former subduction of oceanic lithosphere, followed by a continental collision and slab...

Ethanol is the most common alternative transport fuel. The current standard market product bioethanol is criticised for limited environmental sustainability as it is largely based on utilisation of food crops. Cellulosic ethanol, derived from lignocellulosic biomass including organic wastes and residues, as well as biomass grown on marginal land, is considered clearly more sustainable under environmental criteria compared to first generation ethanol, and it makes use of highly abundant, low cost organic material. ...

The abundances of invasive plant species in the vegetation have negative impacts on the integrity, structure and function of autochthonous ecosystems. Invasive species act as stressors for plant communities and change their species compositions. In the Czech Republic, Ceratophyllum demersum is a species that may represent a risk of invasiveness, particularly in shallow types of water bodies. It is autochthonous is all continents, but it is primarily centred into warmer parts of the mild climate of the northern hem...

We live in the interglacial period that is causing warming effect on the EarthпїЅs climate reflected in water scarcity. Water is an essential substance in agricultural production. Therefor appropriate management is necessary to achieve sustainability. Material flow analysis (MFA) provides an overview of the system by linking the anthroposphere with the environment, and can highlight environmental or resource issue problems. Thus MFA can be used as a tool of material management. We applied partial MFA for quantifyi...

Cesium-137 is a long-lived technogenic radionuclide. The study of its distribution in the environment is important either from ecological point of view or as it may be used as a marker for sediment core dating. Lakes are excellent objects for the application of these approaches. A scientific expedition was carried out in order to extract and to study sediment cores from the beds of Lake Maly Liman, Lake Abrau, Lake Maly Utrish (Municipality of Novorossiysk, Region of Krasnodar), and Lake Bolshoi Tambukan (at the b...

The present paper deals with the study of fluid and thermal characteristics of the metal foam with an open cell structure for use in solar thermal applications. The study of selected parameters was performed using CFD tools based on finite volume method calculation in software Ansys Fluent. Presented simulation was carried out on two types of metal foam elements with a density of pores of 10 and 20 PPI, which were designed and modeled by the authors using CAD tools. The basis of a model formed tetrakaidecahedron s...

The areas of the Colca Canyon and the Valley of the Volcanoes, located in the Arequipa region in the Central Andes, southern Peru, are distinguished for their unique geodiversity in the whole planet scale [10]. Currently, the INGEMMET Institute has submitted a proposal to designate the area as a geopark belonging to the UNESCO network [13]. The designation of the Colca and the Volcanoes of Andagua Geopark brings new opportunities to develop tourism. Inventory of geosites includes numerous geomorphological, geodyna...

Aim of this paper is to provide the overview of ecological friendly mechanical engineering through design solution in the field of material handling. There can be achieved a significant reducing of energy consumption with advantage of maintenance simplicity by decreasing level of the automation and the design complexity. Model situation is dealing with change of the material position orientation by using minimum of external forces and processes. The orientation change is induced by motion of the material along pre...

This paper discusses the issue of changes in average transaction prices of undeveloped land and real properties designated for agricultural and forestry purposes in Poland. The studies cover the period starting from the accession of Poland into the European Union structures in 2004. Another aim of the study is also to present the differences between average transaction prices of undeveloped real properties designated in years 2009-2015 among others, residential land, industrial land, other building land, agricultu...

The direct field observations and processing the info-graphic support (satellite images, thematic maps, profiles, digital images of the area) led to the preparation of this paper and realization of the proposal rehabilitation measures of anthropogenic landforms generated by coal mining activities in Petrosani Basin. These are exemplified by analyzing the Petrila 2 East dump (the Eastern end of the Basin) and Campu lui Neag coal pit (in the Western end of the Basin). The landscape of Petrosani Basin is transformed ...

The deposits of the Legnicko-G?ogowski Cooper District (SW Poland) are located in Permian sedimentary rocks. They are formed by accumulated cooper sulphides which occur in sandstones, shales and carbonates. The most important lithological layer among the mentioned ones is shale, as its level indicates the location of a deposit. This layer is characterized by a variable thickness which is a result of the sea bottom topography during the sedimentation of shale. Shale, as in the case of the remaining layers, is subje...

Landfilling, composting and incineration represent the most common processes used for the disposal of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). One of the methods that allow to limit the amount of stored biodegradable wastes is their biological transformation. In the European Union, composting is one of the most widely promoted methods of the biological processing of biodegradable waste. Composting of wastes consists on applying microbiological processes of transformation of the matter to obtain decomposi...

The study was conducted to explore the phyto- and zooplankton composition and abundance in ponds located at Komsomolsk tailing dump, Kuznetski Alatau, Russia. Four ponds and one lake were sampled in detail: the pond in the northern part of the tailing dump (sample KP-1), the watered trench near the pond (sample KP-8), the red pond formed on the shifted Berikul tailings (sample KP-9), the settling pond (sample KP-10) and the natural lake Bolshoy Berchikul (sample KP-11) located 10 km away from the tailing dump as t...

The abandoned Regoufe mine is situated in Northern Portugal, in the Arouca Geopark. It was exploited for tungsten by underground mining till the 1970s. The tailings were deposited on the ground. The mine was abandoned without any environmental remediation. Mineralization occur in quartz veins, and consists of wolframite, cassiterite, and several sulfides (arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite), bismuthinite and native bismuth (Bi). The present study aims to characterize the acid mine drainages (AMD) and superficial wat...

Corrosion is a process of spontaneous physicochemical destruction of metal, leading to irretrievable loss of metal, due to its chemical or electrochemical interaction with the environment. As a result of corrosion processes, the surface of the metal is visibly destroyed. However, the concept of corrosion includes not only visible surface fractures of the metal, but also cases of internal intergranular destructive influences, proceeding outwardly imperceptibly, but being one of the most dangerous types of destructi...

Rare earth element (REE) resources are nowadays of great interest because of their importance as raw materials for high technology manufacturing, being also significant as geochemical indicators. Various phosphate mineral bearing rare-earth elements (REE) have been observed in the DпїЅrico-BeirпїЅ gold-antimony district (North Portugal). Besides apatite, the more abundant phosphate, xenotime, monazite and florencite were identified by scanning electron microprobe (SEM). They are usually associated to Palaeozoic me...

Situated in the central part of the country, Chott El Jerid is the largest periodic lake in Tunisia. The depression is a flat plain lined with Holocene lacustrine sediments, which mostly developed in the form of alluvia and evaporites. Geochemical properties of sediments were tested using the following methods: FUS-ICP, TD-ICP, INAA, Cold Vapour FIMS. As concerns the basic composition, the following substances were identified (average levels): loss on ignition (LOI) пїЅ 24.27%, SiO2 пїЅ 21.46%, CaO пїЅ 20.54%, Na2...

We studied the distribution of heavy metals, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and oil products in soils of industrial areas of the cities of Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Taganrog. By comparison with the regional background, geochemical associations, characteristic of various types of industrial landscapes and determined by the specifics of production, were identified. It was established that main pollutants of soils of Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog are zinc, lead, copper and oil products; concentrations of mercury, arsenic, nick...

Steam based-thermal methods for improving oil recovery mainly includes steam injection, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam injection (CSS). One of main goal of these methods is to achieve in-situ upgrading of heavy and extra-heavy oil. The high content of high-molecular compounds like asphaltenes is the one of main problems that is need to be solved during the process of the upgrading of heavy oils. Therefore, studying changes in the structure and properties of asphaltenes induced by thermal t...

Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) constitute a major component of the planktonic and benthic fauna of the high-latitude lakes. They are tolerant to extreme environmental conditions and are one of very few groups of aquatic animal that are not only able to persist in cold thermokarst lakes but to build up viable populations. Subfossil Cladocera were sampled from surface sediments of 20 thermokarst lakes along a transect crossing the tree line in the Khatanga-river basin, south of Taymyr Peninsula, north-central S...

Development of new nanostructured carbon sorbents with desired properties is an important task. This corresponds to the carbon-containing sorbents, i.e. active alternative coals, because their usage puts forward increasingly stringent requirements to their strength and structural characteristics. Determination of active centers in sorbents, understanding of mechanisms, which form coal-mineral sorbents, allow to make process of synthesis controlled, and thus provides obtaining of carbon-containing sorbents with cer...

Groundwater is one of the main resources for drinking- and industrial water supply in Bulgaria. Investigations of a number of groundwater sources indicate concentrations of toxic elements or metal ions, considerably exceeding the maximum contaminant values. Pollution with arsenic has been found in the region of Dimitrovgrad, Merichleri, Haskovo, Kyustendil. Increased content of manganese, iron and sulphates is available in some districts of Sofia, Dimitrovgrad, Haskovo, Svishtov. Presence of excessive concentratio...

Starting from the great potential of renewable resources existing in Romania, in order to harness and use these renewable resources, the current paper presents some research conducted at the Institute INOE 2000-IHP aiming at creating combined/hybrid systems for generating electrical and heat energy, and also targeting the development of energy storage technologies so that they can be used in any conditions regardless of their fluctuation, especially in isolated places. To do this, on the basis of extensive documen...

Starting to elaborate complex activities as projects or recurrent work requires taking into consideration the relationship between effort and benefits which may gain different forms depending on the field of intervention. The most widely used and measurable context is referring to the effort, qualified as costs, and the benefits, viewed as added value gained by stakeholders regardless of the form: tangible and/or intangible elements. The analysis of efforts and benefits calls for a holistic approach for evaluating...

After assessment of supply of ecological (EKO) and Premium quality products (PQP) of bee-keeping in Lithuania in 2012-2014 it can be seen that the number of ecological bee-keeping farms sequentially decreased by 2 farms from 2012 to 2014. Amounts of honey (34.66 t), (32.14 t), (33.56 t) collected during the research period were similar; quantities of all bee-keeping products decreased, except for pollen: in 2014 their quantity increased by 1.8 times, comparing with the quantity at the beginning of the research per...

This study focuses on petrophysical characteristics of flysch sandstones in the S-8 well section, located in the western part of the Polish Outer Carpathians (southern Poland). A number of laboratory tests were performed with application of the mercury injection capillary pressure, low field nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction and pulse decay permeability measurements. Laboratory tests results were compared with the well logging interpretation. The laboratory analyses were conducted on core samples from ...

In a market where footwear quality involves both health improvement and a better environmental protection, пїЅenvironmentally-friendly footwearпїЅ that minimizes environmental and health impact, guaranteeing a certain level of quality, may fulfill the requirements of today's consumer. Throughout their life cycle, from leather processing to the finished footwear, resulting waste and chemicals contained in some of the products may be harmful for health and the environment. In accordance to European law, waste from t...

Holmium (III) removal from nitrate solutions in a form of dodecyl sulfates using ion flotation and extraction methods was studied. Distribution and removal ratios as a function of equilibrium aqueous phase ?? value were received. Comparison of experimental results was conducted and conclusions on the effectiveness of each method depending on the assigned task were drawn. Comparative analysis of extraction and flotation methods for holmium (III) cations removal from individual water-salt solutions and in the compre...

The calculation program EnergoCost V.1 [8] was developed in order to choose a heating system that would generate minimal costs both in terms of initial investment and energy consumption over time. Thus, it is possible to determine the evolution in time of the energy costs for heating the building, using different energy sources and thermal devices. The results are displayed numerically but also graphically, being very intuitive, and any user of this program can easily interpret these results, choosing the final op...

The paper deals with processing the waste generated in paper recycling: initial waste of paper mill and sludge after wastewater treatment. The authors have analyzed characteristics of the waste of paper recycling generated in paper recycling plant near Kyiv (Ukraine): calorific value, moisture and ash content. The heating value of waste of paper recycling range from 6.5 to 24 kJ/kg and significantly depends on moisture content. Potential environmental impact depends largely on the physical and chemical characteris...

Natural resource management in the North of Russia has a centuries-long history which reflects the peculiarities of northern territory development. The specific character of natural resource management in the Arctic zone as well as in the North depends on cer-tain natural and social-economic conditions, limiting factors and environmental protec-tion measures. The Fennoscandia Green Belt is an international cross-border project. The primary goal of the ecological corridor is to provide sustainable use of natural re...

Carbonic materials are considered to be one of the most promising materials for hydrogen adsorption and storage; they have different applications and fuel cells technology may be considered the most important of them. By using metals for doping them, the adsorption capacity increases, thus approaching пїЅthe targetпїЅ of 6.5% weight ratio of H2 adsorbed in a substrate. A comparative research related to hydrogen adsorption capacity of poly-aniline (PANI) doped with Platinum (Pt), Ruthenium (Ru) and Iridium (Ir) was...

Although hydropower is one of the oldest energy sources used by man, it is still the leading green, nonpolluting and renewable source for electricity generation worldwide. Hydroelectric power generation is also the most efficient method of large scale electric power generation. Estimates show that there is a huge worldwide capacity of unutilized hydropower potential. Therefore, there are many opportunities for new hydroelectric power plants throughout the world, which makes the study and design of new and improved...

The purpose of the study was to present a case study on the parameters of photovoltaic systems installed on different types of roof. These research studies were conducted in the Laboratory of Renewable Energy at the University of Pite?ti.The case study analyzed the production of electricity for different photovoltaic systems, in terms of construction and placement.Mainly, the parameters of these systems were checked in the same weather conditions, such as: temperature, humidity, solar radiation and the unit of are...

In this paper consumer preferences for organic and traditional products are analyzed, regarding the level of consumer responsibility towards consumption which supports sustainable development. This study was conducted by a market research in Arad city, Romania, in 2016 on a representative sample, estimating the consumer preferences for organic products and traditional products. Arad county area is an important agricultural basin, with a rich tradition in traditional food products. These product categories are amon...

The connection of the building, which requires the use of traffic engineering infrastructure, is known as connection. Building connections in build - up areas for coordination purposes is very difficult. Technical infrastructure is in place under the public roads and any intervention requires traffic restrictions. The additional connection of buildings to technical infrastructure is therefore a very costly and expensive and requires adequate preparation focused mainly on the length of the building realization. The...

Reservoir description is rapidly increasing with the help of advancing computing possibilities. Although machines become more efficient, it is necessary to have accurate input data and plenty of data points to achieve reliable results. However, in the case of both old Romanian hydrocarbon reservoirs and some of the new ones, not too many data points are available. In this situation, no matter the computing power of the machine or the computing algorithm, detailed reservoir description is limited. This paper extend...

In microgravimetric survey it is sometimes necessary to take into account the terrain correction, which eliminates the influence of terrain relief from the measured values. The accuracy of its calculation depends on the quality of mapping terrain relief in the form of a digital terrain model. For mapping is usually used geodetic data from additional measurements carried out using a total station or GPS, and more recently Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). Additional measurements increase the cost of survey, especia...

Halogen derivatives of hydrocarbons - trihalomethanes (THMs), are formed in disinfected swimming pool waterпїЅ mostly when chlorine compounds are used for the process. THMs have a negative impact on human health because they are carcinogenic and mutagenic. In Poland, the contents of THMs in swimming pool water and air are standardized, the norm for swimming pool water is 100 g/dm3. Several factors can influence the THMs formation in water, but most important are processes and chemicals used for water treatment. Th...

In Latvia, aquaculture is evaluated as highly productive, competitive and environment-friendly sector, having an internal self-development potential, which should be used in full. Economic breakthrough in the fisheries in the EU and in Latvia is related to aquaculture sector; consequently, facilitation of its competitiveness plays a significant role. The aim of the research is to evaluate the competitiveness of Aquaculture Sector in Latvia. Based on the author developed Model of the Factors influencing Competitive...

Fast increase of Earth population during the last decades raised a serious problem when it came to providing fresh and good quality food (mainly vegetables) in big quantity over a short period of time. Due to relatively long lifecycles of plants when growing in gardens or fields, the best solution consisted in using greenhouses. Greenhouses proved to be a very important solution since they are capable of operating regardless of local environments if minimum requirements (heating and water) are provided. By offerin...

The article presents data management results of repair works performed in the wells with different values of bottom-hole pressure. Repairs performed during the last ten years in the wells drilled in the Tournaisian, Tula, Bashkirian, and Verey deposits have been involved into a special statistical analysis. The authors provide an assessment of possible risks for control and operation of wells with low bottom-hole pressure on the basis of their study experience. The main purpose of the analysis was to determine the...

Isotopic composition of noble gases and other volatiles (CO2, N2) from minerals of corundum-bearing rocks with isotopically ultralight oxygen from Khitoostrov deposit have been investigated. The studies were conducted on Finesse mass-spectrometry system [1] using step heating in temperature range from 200пїЅ? to 1400пїЅ?. The following minerals were investigated: corundum, amphibole, garnet, staurolite. For the same samples, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry curves have been obtained. The firs...

The research claims that carbonate reservoirs are different from terrigenous one with the ability significantly to improve the filtration and capacitive properties under the influence of hydrochloric acid solutions. Acidic compositions, containing not only the hydrochloric acid, but also various kinds of additives, such as demulsifiers, dispersants, stabilizers (converters) of iron and many others. They are usually selected by experience in practice. Its main function is to simplify the extraction of the oil emuls...

The ever-increasing demand for heating in different sectors, along with more preventative regulations of greenhouse emissions, has forced different countries to seek new alternatives to heat buildings such as district heating system (DHS). DHS is best suited to areas with a high building and population density in relatively cold climates. District heating, considered as the most efficient method for building space heating, has been dramatically developed over the past decades. This paper approaches the description...

The aim of this work is the study of Congo Red removal from water by adsorption onto Zn4Al-CO3 type layered double hydroxide prepared from zinc ash. The preparation consist in dissolution of zinc ash with hydrochloric acid followed by synthesis of LDH by co-precipitation of zinc chloride with aluminum salt in alkaline media. The prepared LDH and the calcined product were utilized as adsorbents of azo dye Congo Red from water. Despite that the materials were prepared from a waste, their performances as adsorbents a...

The atmospheric pollutants emissions derive mostly from industrial and social activities and represent a serious risk to the ecosystems and for the human health. At European level, in the recent years there has been a significant reduction in anthropogenic emissions, but certain atmospheric pollutants continue to harm the human health. The suspension particles represent a complex mixture of very small particles and liquid, with an extremely diverse composition. Along with nitrogen, the particulate matter pollutant...

Vanadium and nickel exist in oils as porphyrin complexes. Metalloporphyrins are concentrated in the asphaltene-resinous part of the oil, while the maximum content of vanadium and nickel is accounted for by asphaltenes. Up to the present time, information about features of content and distribution of vanadium, nickel, and the types of the corresponding metal complexes in asphaltenes and resins of heavy oils and natural bitumens has a disparate and non-systemic character. In this work, composition and distribution o...

This paper aims to bring the latest information on annual calibration of measuring equipment installed in cement plants. Calibration should be certified to confirm the quality of continuous measurements, namely the measurements of plant equipment is controlled by parallel measurements with standard reference methods by an authorized testing laboratory (accredited). These types of measurements are referred to as instant annual measurements or measurements for the chimney testing. A continuous emissions monitoring e...