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In the framework of this paper, Latvian jewelry, which is made in the past twelve years, is studied by the field research method. The materials used and technologies applied in the making of jewelry were the subject of the research. Besides the specific examples of jewelry, also their authors, which have furthered use of advanced and favorable for environmental methods in the making of jewelry. Research data are obtained based on database developed by the author, which can be used in the Internet, where 804 photos...

The study responds to the need for restoring the natural function of small streams and recovery thereof in terms of European Parliament and Council Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC within brown coal mining areas damaged by anthropogenic impacts. The study observed: which environmental factors are the most relevant to the current state of these sites (the positive and negative effects), what types of recovery are typical of natural parts of the streams and significantly changed/affected ones, and the effect of ...

Providing the environmentally healthy conditions in rivers is main prerequisite to guarantee the sustainable river ecosystems development. This is connected to implementation of various measures accounting the increasing anthropogenic and climate change impacts. For the purpose on local, national and international level various tools and practices are implemented following the adopted legislation. For the countries of European Union Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) stipulates main framework for community action in the a...

The geographic origin of pollution is disconnected from its scale or place of occurrence, and some environmental problems could have impact easily on the entire planet. Currently it is noticeable a continuous agravation of pollution and a change in the basics of ecological problems. Local pollution is replaced by global issues such as climate change or biodiversity loss. The paper attempted to reveal the direction of policy measures that target sustainability within a global context. The paper makes an incursion i...

The modern society is focused on the main recommendations of the TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. One of the document directions is "Business can save biodiversity and improve the exploitation of ecosystems". The task is to strengthen those economic development strategies that are environmentally sound, socially just and profitable for business. Such measures are an integral part of the resources rational use policy in modern industrial enterprise. The object of this study was the process of pr...

The construction industry is one of the most material and energy-intensive manufacturing industries in the world, with about 50% of energy consumption and 60% of material resources. Obviously, the rational resource consumption, and as a consequence, the environmental future of humanity, to a large extent depends on the current state of this issue in the construction industry, and mainly emerging prospects for its modernization. For the construction, as the production sphere of national and global economies, findin...

A mechanism of core blocking that is drilled out during the coring from deep wells in the direct and indirect flushing with drilling mud is examined. Using methods of technical mechanics and hydromechanics, a formula for flow rate excluding a core blocking is obtained during the backwashing. The value of necessary flow rate depends on not only a direction and intensity of fracturing of rocks, geometrical and density parameters of core pieces, but also on structural strength of drilling mud. A mechanism of core sel...

Heavily loaded production lines for metal surface treatment gradually lose reliability and are subject to both physical and moral ageing. For this reason their replacement by a more advanced equipment is necessary and it is the most effective action. In addition to the production process efficiency improvement, this action provides also better parameters as to the environmental protection. The modernization undertaken also meets the requirements for BAT techniques. The paper handles also potential effect of the pr...

Heavy and radioactive metal poisoning has become a problem of current interest as a result of environmental pollution on a global scale. Studies to test the noxious effect of radioactive metal ions on wheat germination and seedling growth showed that germination rate, shoot length, and fresh weights varied as a function of their concentration in the treatment solutions. We report here the effect of some radioactive and non-radioactive (stable) elements on the wheat seeds and seedlings (Triticum aestivum L.) in the...

Excessive recreational load are altering the composition of plant communities, leading to loss of some native species and replacement their on invasive weed species. Tourism has a particularly strong impact on landscape and biological diversity of mountain territories, in particular Trans-Ili Alatau, which is experiencing increasing anthropogenic pressure on natural ecosystems, because it is located near the largest metropolis of Kazakhstan city Almaty. We have carried out studies on the effect of the recreational...

This paper deals with the possibilities of concentration of electromagnetic radiation through Fresnel lenses. The article points out errors in the optical system and their possible solutions, which are based on the latest scientific knowledge. At present, there is a development of Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) and high-concentration photovoltaics (HCPV) systems that make the possibility of more efficient transformation of solar energy into electrical energy. Manufacturing of photovoltaic cells differs in the co...

During combustion of natural fuels together with oxides of main fuel elements (carbon and hydrogen) fly ash with unburnt fuel particles, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, some amount of fluorine-containing compounds and gaseous products of incomplete combustion of fuel are released into the atmosphere. The technology and technological parameters of equipment for purification of exhaust gases of TPP, which allows to remove up to 95% of sulfur and carbon oxides by low-temperature liquid-phase catalytic oxidation at at...

In the paper modern tendencies in the WorldпїЅs industrial mining sector development are overviewed, which manifest themselves in management streamlining of the sectorпїЅs economic, technological, and informational processes. Emergence and advancement of scientific-and-applied research directions, aimed at these processes systemic scrutinizing and appropriate rearrangement, are traced from the first third of the XX century, when the so-called Economics of Exhaustible Resources abstract research branch has been ini...

Air injection techniques (high pressure air injection and in-situ combustion) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) have attracted extensive attention due to its low cost. Air injection can be applied in many candidate reservoirs including carbonate reservoirs that account for a great proportion of total oil reserves all over the world. Dolomite and calcite are the main minerals of carbonate reservoirs. Therefore, it is necessary to study their effect on the oxidation of crude oil as the oxidation reaction exactly occur...

Alumina and silica are commonly used as solid matrix for characterizing the combustion behavior of crude oils by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. However, the two basic factors, heating rate and total sample mass, were paid less attention in the process of experiments. Our recent study found that they might significantly change the oxidation behavior due to the use of alumina and silica as solid matrix. In this study, the effects of heating rate and sample mass on the combustion behavior of crude...

The effect of different doses and time of boron fertilization on growth and development of grape plants were studied on the soils of Terek-Kumskiy sands of Chechen Republic, Russian Federation. The aim of research is to study the content of boron in the soil and to identify the physiological response of the vine plants on boron fertilizer. The obtained data of the boron total content in the studied sandy soil showed that in 0-60 cm layer of the soil the boron total content ranges from 0.4 to 0.5 mg/kg, in 60-150 c...

The papers presents the realization of Project Gorona el Viento and its operation on the smallest of Canary Islands. El Hierro was recognized as UNESCO biosphere reserve. Therefore the new model of energy supply, based exclusively on renewable energy sources, seemed to be reasonable. Earlier power was obtained from diesel transported from the mainland. The hybrid solution, system including the wind farm, water pumped power plant and a set of pumps has been adopted. Power obtained of the wind turbines supplies hous...

The purpose of the study was to develop an electrochemical method for detection of lead at low level of contamination in water samples using a carbon glassy electrode modified with the functionalized azulene: (2E)-2-(azulen-1-ylmethylidene) hydrazine carbothioamide (L) as a complexing polymer film. The modified electrodes were prepared in L solutions (1mM) in acetonitrile (CH3CN) containing tetra n-butyl ammonium perchlorate (0.1 M TBAP) as supporting electrolyte. The analyses were performed on Autolab PGSTAT 12 P...

This article is about a new data acquisition system and procedure used for electromagnetic pollution assessment and warning, with mobile equipment, placed inside some electric high voltage power stations in the Central Region of Romania, as well as the software involved and interpretation of results. The whole system and procedures, as well as all the measurements were performed by our team from the Politehnica University in Timisoara. The acquisition system and the software involved are developed by our team. Mai...

The research is devoted to the investigation of meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim., Rosaceae line), which is widely used by population for medical purposes. The results are represented by the concentrations of 28 chemical elements determined by INAA method and 55 ones determined by ICP-MS in 201 samples of the aboveground part of the plants collected in different regions of the south of Siberia. The analysis of the data obtained allowed concluding that the chemical elements varied depending on the region...

In this paper are presented some studies concerning energy conversion systems for High Altitude Pseudo-Satellites (HAPS). In the first part of the paper, a state-of-the-art in the field of energy conversion systems on board of high altitude UAVs together with the identification of future trends in electrical propulsion of aircrafts are shown. The interfacing between the fuel cells and the bus, as well as the bus voltage adjustment is made via the DC to DC converters. Simple type boost converters are lighter, but h...

The continuous improvement of building insulation and air tightness means that controlled ventilation is becoming more important every day. The ground-air heat exchanger makes a considerable contribution to this, especially when used in conjunction with an air heat exchanger unit. As well as increasing the quality of life within the building, this also provides significant energy cost reductions by using the embodied ground energy to pre-condition the incoming ventilation air. The Canadian wells use geothermal ene...

Multipurpose vehicles are trucks that were implemented in order to achieve some different equipment related to road works such as snow removal, sweeping and spraying the streets, roadside mowing, trimming trees etc. Multipurpose vehicles have two operating modes. ? Regime for marching. Rapidly moving vehicles from one location to another. Torque at the drive wheels is small and the speed is high. ? Technological regime. The vehicle traveling at a low speed (max 8 km/h) imposed by technology of working multifunctio...

In the Czech Republic, the obligation of municipalities to ensure their residents separated collection of biodegradable municipal waste (BDW) was enacted, nevertheless the issue of further management of thus collected waste has not been satisfactorily solved so far. Material recovery of bio-waste is difficult as capacity of biogas stations and composting plants is not relevantly adequate for processing such a huge amount of material. Also the disposal of final products (compost substrate, etc.) is relatively low a...

The environment and its protection are among the most followed topics of today. Logging using forest machines is closely associated with the hazard of service fluids spills and their negative impact on the forest ecosystem. Engine oils represent the highest share of all service fluids used in forest machines. In the present study we tested engine oil fouled during regular operation of the forest machine. Synthetic, as well as natural sorbents can be used for a quick and effective removal of engine oil spills. Proc...

Construction development of forest-tundra areas shall take into account their peculiar characteristics: enhanced susceptibility of landscape components to man-made impact, presence of permafrost, and also insufficient exploration of environmental conditions. These factors make it essential to carry out a detailed investigation of natural and man-made conditions as a part of engineering and environmental surveys during environmental feasibility study of the projected construction in such areas. This work is dedicat...

The paper considers main factors of oil hydrocarbons transformation and migration in underground medium. Influence of oil products on changes in redox and acid-alkaline conditions of underground space, as well as on intensification of various forms of microorganisms is shown. Composition and physical-mechanical properties transformation of disperse soils with different water saturation levels are experimentally studied. Failure causes of residual fuel oil storage are analysed. Role of microbial activity in formati...

Water is a key element and plays a central and critical role in all aspects of our life, environment, agriculture, economies, food security etc. Water scarcity in developing countries is driven by climate change and has triggered the need for urgent solutions across the continents. While opportunities exist to enhance currently available fresh water resources, including desalination and wastewater treatment, these methods have been environmentally devastating and costly. Atmospheric extraction could revolutionize ...

In this study, the feasibility of zwitterionic surfactants for EOR from high-temperature and high-salinity reservoir was investigated. Three different types of zwitterionic betaine surfactants were selected based on their abilities to address issues of displacement oil from high-temperature and high-salinity reservoir. And their abilities of reducing interfacial and surface tension (IFT), increasing viscosity, and long-term stability at high temperature and high salinity were investigated and compared with the mos...

The article describes the directions of increasing the role of tax payments in the special-purpose funding of the measures for the restoration of natural resources, enhancement of rational resource management and environment conservation. Enhancement of the incentive function can be achieved by using a system of charges in the form of targeted levies channeled to conservational sphere, levied according to a graded scale of charges determined by the severity of the negative impact on the environment and human healt...

ShakeMaps are one of the most applicative products of seismological research and monitoring, becoming available minutes after earthquakes. They are maps depicting the ground shaking produced by an earthquake and the estimated intensity distribution, being extremely useful for authorities, population, private sector and researchers too. However, the outcome of the result пїЅ consisting of easy to read maps representing the potential area affected, often hides the fact that many compromise decisions and uncertaintie...

Enterprise investment in environment protection means traditionally are seen as a burden induced by environmental policy. It is claimed that these investments do not support increase in output and productivity and rise production costs. Environmental investments directed to reduce abatement cost may not produce the productivity growth effect if the productivity gain do not outweigh the increase in abatement cost. Though environmental investments of firms are seen as less productive allocations, strong version of t...

For the development of the aviation industry more and more important becomes the issue of sustainable development, taking into account the coexistence and interaction of the three capitals: social, ecological and economic. The article focuses on the mechanisms of improving the effectiveness of the implementation of this concept. It was found that the effective implementation of the concept of sustainable development requires entrepreneurial activities of various entities aimed at the integration and synergy of the...

An idea of пїЅclean productionпїЅ, which provides for the modernization of industrial enterprises to environmental standards, is the concept that promote to sustainable development. The idea of combining economic and environmental effectiveness is a base of the concept. The most common indicator of balance is the environmental footprint, which is determined through calculating the use of natural resources. In addition, the environmental footprint provides an opportunity to assess how long can affect on the environ...

Environmental technology verification (ETV) may be defined as the establishment or validation of environmental technology performance by qualified third parties based on test data generated through testing using established procedures or specific requirements. The paper present a characteristics of the ETV established by the European Commission as a voluntary scheme with an overall objective to increase the marketability of environmental technologies and raise confidence in ecoinnovations by providing independent ...

The article attempts to answer the question whether, and to what extent, the construction sector companies disclose information on environmental responsibility. An analysis of literature indicates that companies operating in more environmentally-sensitive sectors are more likely to disclose environmental information that leads to legitimize their existence. Therefore, the subject of analysis were information disclosed on the websites of companies from the construction sector, concerning eight areas: Energy, Water,...

Analysis of the environment state of oil and gas regions in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (YaNAO) on the basis of researches in the north of Western Siberia (2003-2016 years) is carried out. The area of research is Nadym-Pur-Taz interfluve, the north of Western Siberia, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. Assessment of environmental components (surface waters, bottom sediments, soils, vegetation, and snow) has been carried out. The studies were conducted at three levels of landscape organization: local (...

The objective of the study is to provide an overview of the impact of recent economic crises and shocks since 2008 on environmental impact, environmental quality and environmental policy in six federal subjects of the Ural Federal District, which is one of the most industrialized and urbanized regions of Russia. These federal subjects differ in sectoral structure of regional economies and the level of Gross Regional Product (GRP). The quantitative analysis undertaken by the study is based on annual dataset which c...

According to the European Directive 2002/49/EC, EU members have to draw up a strategic noise map for all agglomerations with more than 250000 inhabitants and for all major airports, roads and railways. A study of environmental impact assessment on Highway A23 in the stretch between Abrantes пїЅ Guarda, conducted under the environmental noise, has as objective the characterization of the current situation, i.e. representation of senses in sound levels surrounding the infrastructure, based on modelling and acoustic ...

The environmental investment programmes are targeted at the implementation of sustainable development activities, maintaining the quality of environment and biological diversity and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources. In recent decade, Latvia has been one of the most active among the new EU Member States in the acquisition of the EU financial resources and other financial instruments for the implementation of the environmental policy targets in Latvia, especially in the spheres of environmental prot...

In the efforts to improve products and processes, it is getting more and more important to implement integrated management systems in companies to enable comprehensive and synergistic solutions to problems arising in different areas of the business activity. Environmental management is usually the key component of an integrated management system, in particular in relation to improving environmental performance of products and processes. An inherent element of the integrated management system concept is the extent ...

Russian governmental concern about serious problems in a field of health protection connected with environmental protection and safety of Russian Federation is shown based on the analysis of national strategic documents. In this regard, the establishing of scientific basis for environmental protection and environmental safety of population aimed at the correcting of the existing environmental standards and the indicators of permissible anthropogenic impact on environment is given by the federal document "Fundament...

To comply with European UnionпїЅs rules regarding the environmental protection it is necessary for the all compound feed factories (CFF) to be fitted with modern and performant working equipments, with a high degree of mechanization, automation and computerization, with high productivity and low specific consumption, but also with opportunities for rigorous monitoring of pollutants and dust removed. Taking into account the complexity of the technological flow that takes place in a compound feed factory (CFF), this...

Determination of soil properties is based on soil sampling with low resolution (1- 2 or more samples per hectare) and their analysis in the laboratory. This method does not provide sufficient data to highlight the significant variability of the soil properties for the analysed parcel. This leads to a uniform distribution of the nutrients that can also be synthetic chemical substances (pollutants). Since the soil properties can influence plants growth, high-resolution mapping is required by the help of some sensors...

Urban green space has different functions in cities, at several levels, such as the environmental, ecological, social, economic, cultural and aesthetic, promoting the image and character of an urban area. In crease the number of residents in urban areas of Kosovo, has directly affected in growth rate of environmental pollution. Air quality is a major problem in many urban areas in the Republic of Kosovo and therefore has a great impact on human health. The objective of this study is to describe the use of urban gr...

Construction and beginning of operation of reservoirs have significant impact on the environment. Resettlement of residents, flooding of a part of the river valley, changes in the river regime and ecosystems as well as mass movements are the most troublesome types of interactions. Such processes may be a little less noticeable when polders are designed. Management of geological resources i.e. mineral resources accumulated in the reservoir basin or in its vicinity is a significant task. It often happens that minera...

The risk assessment of an organization is stipulated in international standards and in a variety of international and national laws and reglementations. In the context of the obvious environmental problems and incidents with disastrous effects for the environment of the past 50 years, industrial and business environment recognizes the importance of environmental risk management and its applied. In the process of the environmental risk management, the risk assessment and risk treatment plays a crucial role in the c...

The Leningrad Region is a big/one the main subject of the Russian Federation with a highly developed industrial, transport and scientific potential. The article provides an analysis of some environmental problems typical for this region. Based on the aggregation of statistical information, data is provided on the structure and dynamics of total emissions, air pollutants, as well as emissions and sinks of greenhouse gases in various sectors of the economy of the Leningrad region. The features of deposition of subst...

In recent years, the EU Member States experience a significant increase in resource efficiency; however, the environmental resource efficiency indicators in the Baltic States, including Latvia, are significantly lower than the EU average indicators and an improvement in figures is too slow. Environmental taxes serve as an essential fiscal instrument for the increase of resource efficiency. Therefore, the research aim is to assess the application of environmental taxes as a fiscal instrument to increase the resourc...

This article presents the results, obtained from testing an equipment used to obtain biogas and biochar from biomass, developed and manufactured based on a patent developed on a research and development project by the IHP staff. A modern way in order to produce ecological and cheap thermal energy is to utilize biomass through micro-gasification process called TLUD (Top-Lit UpDraft) with high conversion efficiencies and emissions of CO and low PM2,5. A new way for producing energy from biomass is the CHAB concept (...