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At the Azgir nuclear test site in Western Kazakhstan 17 nuclear explosions were carried out at a depth of 165 to 1500 m, as well as ground explosions. Nine underground cavities with a total volume of about 1.2 million m3 with extremely high residual radioactivity were formed in the thickness of the rock salt layers. Five of the nine cavities are filled with groundwater and strontium, cesium and plutonium radionuclides are leaking into the environment, and radionuclides spread through food chains. A medical examina...

Environmental pollution from production waste and disposal of household, electronic and other equipment is becoming more and more noticeable. This requires a rethinking of business processes in enterprises. Waste management is becoming a major problem of our society. Therefore, a targeted policy at the local and national levels is crucial. This requires a change in legislation in this area, as well as the development of specific measures to tackle the problems. To this end, however, we need indicators to determine...

Because the occupational risk expressed the possibility of ending up in a (possible) danger of injury and/or occupational illness, it can represent a criterion of qualitative appreciation of the accomplishment of a human action, indicating how it may produce undesirable effects, materialized by human and material damage. The risk associated with a human action is determined by a multitude of risk factors, both of internal nature (manifested by human error) and of an external nature (technical equipment and related...

The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are one of the main tools through which changes in the urban environment can be tracked. They can be used to analyze processes not only as territorial phenomena, but also to derive spatio-temporal models and trends. Free and open access data was used for the present study - from Copernicus, OpenStreetMap and the Urban Development Plan of Sofia Municipality were used as sources. Data layers for the terrain, land cover, buildings, street network and others were analyzed toget...

This paper is in the context of studies on the variability of atmospheric factors that highlight the fluctuations associated with climate changes. The acquisition of data for the concentration of NO, NO2 and NOx was collected from the national air quality monitoring system which includes 158 monitoring stations. the monitored national area was divided into 8 study areas to facilitate the calculations. In this paper we present the significant results for the Southeast of Romania for a period of 5 years - between 20...

The purpose of this article is to assess the quality of soil and water environmental factors in some protected areas in Romania both to establish geochemical threshold values and to highlight anthropogenic pressures where they have been identified. The activities carried out are defined spatially and temporally so that the results obtained include seasonal variations and other influencing factors that have a variability on a temporal and spatial scale. Each protected area introduced in the study was well documente...

In connection with elaboration of scientific project -Statistical study of forestry companies competitiveness- and on the basis of the accumulated national and foreign experience a system of indicators and sub-indicators for complex quantitative assessment of forestry companies competitiveness has been offered. The proposed indicators are: competitiveness of product being offered; labor productivity; financial results; enterprise growth; market adaptability; economic realization of property of forest resources; si...

Soil pollution by potentially toxic elements (As, Sb, Cu, Zn, Pb) near the mining areas has become a serious environmental problem. These risk elements can be released into the environment, causing a risk to human health. Stabilized pollution in various materials may constitute an additional risk in the long term. Organic acids play an important role in mobilizing contaminants. In the present work, various stabilizing agents (iron nanoparticles - nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI), amorphous manganese oxide (AMO), b...

In the restoration of the historical and geographical conditions of today's Bulgarian lands, historical sources and documents of different origin, character and purpose come into use. The lack of sufficiently complete and accurate information about the development and dynamics of coastal archaeological landscapes in the narrative source material enhances the importance of medieval and renaissance maps of the Black Sea basin, which are an invaluable source of information. The combination of this information, togeth...

Pollution of aquatic ecosystems with antibiotic-resistant genes originating from human medicine and veterinary is an urgent problem due to the potential threaten to public health. Antibiotic-resistant genes enter surface waters and wastewater through vertical and horizontal water runoff. At the same time, heavy metals and biogenic substances often presented in aqueous ecosystems often exacerbate the problem since the drive the horizontal transfer of antibiotic-resistance genes. To solve the problem of purification...

Magnetospheric pulsations and the mechanisms underlying their generation are topics under active studies. The Pc5 (f =1.7-6.7 mHz) geomagnetic continuous pulsations, recorded at mid latitudes (L =1.6) during December 2019, with a low level of geomagnetic activity, are analyzed and discussed in this paper. The data sets of the series on geomagnetic field variations recorded at Panagjuriste Geomagnetic Observatory in Bulgaria are analyzed. The spectral characteristics of the pulsations were determined by Continuous ...

Research will focus on investments for the development of the company. Transition to the circular economy is understood in many cases only as an unnecessary obstacle, not as the new business model. Production based on the linear model "take, make, dispose of" is not possible anymore based on decreased environmental quality. Increased production efficiency could help promote the company's prestige, gain tax allowances, create optimistic co-operation with the state, municipality, and maintain sustainability in terms...

Currently, one of the main tasks of every employer is to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for every employee. In a global case, it should not only be a legal act, but especially a moral act. The modern policy of each employer should therefore be set in such a way as to continuously improve the occupational safety of employees. This continuous improvement can be achieved in particular through continuous periodic inspections and audits carried out by independent occupational safety staff. This chapter d...

The study of ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves and geomagnetic pulsations plays an important role in better understanding the mechanisms of their generation and spread in the magnetosphere and on the ground. The magnetospheric ULF waves, which provide useful information about the conditions in the solar wind and in the magnetosphere, can be detected on the ground by different types of magnetometers and recorded as geomagnetic pulsations - continuous and irregular. This paper aims to study the characteristics of Pc5 ...

As a consequence of climate change, in some regions, more intense rain showers go hand in hand with longer dry periods. The subsequent more and more severe droughts can have devastating effects on many economic and social sectors. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to predict and assess the consequences of these droughts on a local scale, in order to develop policies to cope. Drought assessment needs a lot of detailed and accurate input-data, such as land use, land cover, soil moisture, vegetation, evapotranspi...

In the present study deterministic earthquake scenarios for the city of Varna - the thirdlargest city in Bulgaria are presented. By deterministic scenario, it is mean a representation of the severity of ground shaking over an urban area, using one or more hazard descriptors. The assessment of seismic hazard and generation of earthquake scenarios is the first step of seismic risk evaluation and society prevention. Seismic history of Varna shows that the hazard for the city is mainly influence by the earthquakes occ...

The latest amendments to Ordinance 1 on the creation and maintenance of specialized maps and registers of specialized public state property under the Act on the Black Sea coast spatial development create a procedure for changing and periodically updating these specialized maps and registers, as the existing regulation regulated only their creation and acceptance. The change and the periodic updating of these specialized maps and registers are assigned by the Bulgarian Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre t...

The main goal of presented study is a demonstration of technological approach to determine the water resources of surface water bodies, using a sparse hydrological monitoring network not covering many of them. Resource of the water body is a flow formed in the catchment area above the studied one including the additional inflow in the frame of the same water body. Practically the flow is changing in each sector of the water body but average annual resources are specified at the final section. The water resources f...

Environmental expenditures include all environmental protection expenditures to prevent, reduce and control environmental aspects, impacts and hazards, in addition to the costs of disposal, treatment, hygiene and cleaning. Environmental protection expenditures are defined as investments of enterprises allocated to reduce direct environmental pollution. In this scientific paper we will address the topic of environmental costs of enterprises in the mining sector in Kosovo. All enterprises of the mining industry in K...

The article justifies the perception of green public procurement as a set of policies, actions and relationships with environmental contexts that emerge and shape the market for green products and services. The purpose of this study is to analyze the state of the green public procurement market in Bulgaria, to clarify the difficulties that contracting authorities (or assignors) most often encounter in the use of environmentally friendly criteria in public procurement, as well as to identify the main risks and chal...

Residues of pesticides and HM, used in bees care or in crop fields, have negative effects on the health of bees and humans and of the antimicrobial properties of the honey. Investigation of HM and pesticides is vital, since the use of chemical solutions has -rise up- significantly. Our aim was to investigate whether the level of contaminants in honey (Fe, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cd, As, using GC/ECD and GF-AAS) and pesticides: ?-HCH, ?-HCH, ? -HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, DDE, DDD, and DDT, alpha -Endosulfan, carbofuran, pi...

Certain studies have determined specific conifers, which can be found in urban and industrial areas can be used to monitor the degree of air pollution being used for passive biomonitoring processes. The needles and bark of conifers taken from the industrial and urban areas of the Jiu Valley, mercury, chromium) and arsenic, after acid mineralization of the samples of pine bark (Pinus sp.), spruce (Picea Abies) and thuja (Thuja Occidentalis) and those taken from these conifers in the urban area and in the vicinity o...

The evaluation of radioactivity levels was performed on milk samples collected biannually for a period of 10 years (2012-2021) from two Central Romanian counties, Sibiu and Alba. The radioactivity concentrations in milk samples originated from Sibiu varied from 0.028-0.001 Bq/L to 0.347-0.017 Bq/L, from 24.017-0.977 Bq/L to 65.403-6.281 Bq/L, from 0.090-0.010 Bq/L to 0.110-0.010 Bq/L, from 0.085 to 0.110 Bq/L, for gross alpha, gross beta, 137Cs and 90Sr, respectively. The radioactivity concentrations in milk sampl...

Cadastral surveying of land is the determination, establishment, and survey of the legal boundaries of a land unit. Cadastral surveying of land is performed that it is necessary to divide a unit of land, merge land units or rearrange the boundaries, if it is necessary to update the situation or encumbrance plan. In the process of cadastral surveying of land, an area plan is prepared. Sometimes the terrain situation is complicated, and it is difficult for a surveyor to access the object. When the terrain situation ...

The quality and quantity of delta lakes- sediment depend on fluvial input and in-situ bio-geo-chemical processes. The present study investigates the quality of lacustrine sediments collected from two lakes - Tataru and Merhei, situated in different hydrodynamic environments within the Danube Delta, Romania, but both connected to fluvial input of water and sediment of the Danube. The following physical and chemical analyses have been carried out on several lake-bottom sediment samples: the main lithological compone...

This study investigated changes in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations in the three components of the forest ecosystem (leaves, bark and soil) along an altitudinal gradient in the temperate forests of Romania. The properties and processes within the forest ecosystem are influenced by altitude. The leaves, litter and soil are important in the good development of the ecosystem and in the cycle of the elements. Plants extract the nutrients necessary for life and growth from the soil in which they carry out the...

This paper presents the degree of noise pollution in Braila. Braila is a city located in southeastern Romania. For this purpose, sound level measurements were performed in various important locations in this city. The monitoring took place between November 2019 and June 2020. The measurements were performed using a professional digital acoustic sound level meter that can record sound values between 30dB-130dB. The sound level meter works with two frequency filters: -A- and -C-. -A- filter responds in the same way ...

The significant increase in the price of energy resources leads today's society not only to a reconsideration of energy conservation policies but also to the encouragement of architects, builders, and building owners to use thermal insulation and exterior wall finishing systems. The design of thermal insulation for facades is a constructive decision, in which the layer with thermal insulation properties is fixed on the load-bearing side of the walls, with the help of adhesives and/or by mechanical means, followed ...

In recent years, the geological service of Kazakhstan has been assigned the task of searching for sites where ores would meet modern industrial requirements. It has become a matter of re-evaluation of lead-zinc deposits and of identification among them of promising non-traditional commercially genetic types. One of these is the karst type, which has the following features: high lead and zinc content, compact ore deposits, effective ore enrichment, wide development in Kazakhstan of carbonate rocks with lead-zinc mi...

The paper presents issues regarding uncertainty involved in the test process to ignition of small components for intrinsically safe equipment. In the first part of the paper, the classification of explosion-protected equipment is presented. In power generation and also in other industrial areas, the incidence of flammable substances is a common factor. As a consequence of this, the risk of explosion may arise. On the other hand, installations located in areas endangered by the presence of flammable substances must...

In this study, a classical biotrickling filter (based on compost microorganisms) and an upgraded biotrickling filter (based on a mixture of compost microorganisms and microalgae Arthrospira platensis PCC 8005) are evaluated in terms of carbon dioxide production, during their use for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal from air. The experiments were performed using acetic acid vapors as model VOC and the biotrickling filter (BTF) performance was observed at different VOC concentrations, gas flowrates and pH v...

Current space activities are especially directed to explore the potential of Mars to have hosted life as well as directed to find future exploration odds of Mars by human beings. In this context scientific advance and newest technology infrastructure, NEXT GEN TECH, is nowadays used and applied on Mars. Current NASA mission can be mentioned, which represents a newly planned exploration of Mars having the goal to succeed in providing scientific information with the support of several rovers. Sent rovers to Mars mus...

Sinorhizobium meliloti are agriculturally valuable species of soil bacteria that form nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with alfalfa plants. Global climate changes lead to an increase of agricultural areas subjected to salinity. Current knowledge about about high-salt stress impact on soil saprophitic root nodulated microsymbionts of legumes is weakly studied and rhizobia gene pool responsible for salt tolerance are fragment and far from clear. An increase of bacteria nonspecific resistance (immune status) to unfavorable ...

The increase in human population brings an increase in consumption, higher pressure in often limited space and growth of waste, particularly in communal environments. Out of the huge volume of communal waste, a portion is composed of biologically degradable and other waste, that could be recycled utilizing eco-friendly means - e.g. fungal activity. This includes plant waste from gardens, yards, parks, orchards and forests, or plant debris not utilized by other ecologically and economically useful means. In this co...

Theoretically, environmental management is still seen as a relatively young field that is rapidly evolving in search of ways to deal with natural threats and problems caused by human activities and related to the search for opportunities to provide and implement Sustainable Development. Environmental problems are intertwined with socioeconomic problems, especially in poor developing countries. In addition, environmental management faces a number of challenges in the modern world. Increasingly, countries will face ...

Contemporary urban meadows as an alternative to amenity mown grass in public green spaces are the solution for biodiversity growth and human wellbeing. In the publication, we present the results of research monitoring the development of flower meadow growth in the urban environment. We focus on the analysis of visual and other properties of herbs, on the basis of which we evaluate the visual and other properties of the flower meadow stand. The result is an evaluation of the suitability of flower meadows in terms o...

Based on data from the last decade, institutions have faced an increasing number of applications for licenses and permits for raw materials, construction, industrial and metallic minerals. Receipt of applications and accompanying documents for licenses and permits is currently performed as a manual process and submitted by enterprises in hard copy format. Institutional officials consistently face with the difficulties in manually processing all data from applications and accompanying documents submitted, causing d...

A study was made of the influence of ZSM-5 zeolite on the composition and properties of the products of fast pyrolysis of flax shives in the temperature range of 350-750 -C. Zeolite ZSM-5 increased the heat of combustion of gaseous products, as well as the content of methane, ethylene, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, which is probably associated with the processes of cracking of volatile products passing through a layer of a catalyst heated to high temperatures. The synthesis and study of zeolite catalysts ZSM-5 con...

The priorities identified by the EU-s and national strategies and the main target areas promoted by the legal regulations concerning this area are precision food production, investments and developments, and - in the area of ensuring the resources needed to achieve these - a more efficient production, the improvement of sustainability and food safety. To achieve these objectives, the European Union has identified the widespread introduction of precision technologies using digitization technology in the food indust...

The study presents a developed instrumental and methodological complex designed to monitor changes in the state and development of dangerous processes in a natural and technogenic system, including the structural integrity of building structures and geodynamic processes in the soil rocks of their placement sites, including the activation of previously passive faults. The complex includes three orthogonal molecular-electronic linear displacement sensors and three orthogonal torsional vibration sensors which can sel...

The main role of ventilation systems and especially air conditioning systems is to create indoor conditions and air quality inside the rooms that are independent of external atmospheric influences. The sizing of ventilation systems and especially of air conditioning systems is done, in most cases, by considering the climatic elements as a basis for calculation. The real limit to air quality insurance it consists in maintaining in the air certain concentrations of harmful substances which do not endanger human heal...

The threat of climate change and its negative consequences is currently a very serious and immediate problem. Undoubtedly, the most striking manifestation of climate change is global warming, both on land and in the oceans. Increasing the average air temperature adversely affects natural ecosystems, which find it very difficult to adapt to this change. Significant consequence of climate change is also the fundamental impact on water resources. In this work we focused on the influence of climatic conditions on the ...

The paper presents an exergy analysis of a heat pump with a steam injection. Different refrigerants as R290, R152A and R1234yf are considered. Constructive schemes such as two-stage heat pumps or cascade couplings are known and used to reduce the temperature at the compressor discharge level, but the presence of two or more compressors increases the cost of the initial investment of the equipment. This paper presents the design of a steam injection heat pump that has the advantage of a simple construction and can ...

Psychosocial risks are defined by the International Labor Organization in terms of interactions between job content, work organization and management, and other environmental and organizational conditions, on one hand, and employee conditions, skills, and needs, on the other. Thus, psychosocial risks refer to those interactions that prove to have a dangerous influence on employees' health through their perceptions and experience. Long-term involvement in stressful work situations can lead to onset of burnout syndr...

The presence of nitrate concentration in drinking water can cause high toxicity to the human body, being considered among the most important pollutant in the environment. Among the many methods available such as biological treatment, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, adsorption, ion exchange, adsorption is the most used technique due to its low cost and simplistic design. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to study the retention of nitrate anion from high concentration aqueous solutions on a novel magnetic adsor...

Currently, one of the main problems in the extraction of useful minerals in term of environment is their transport in quarries. With the requirements to reduce the noise of the belt conveyor track, we were looking for a suitable solution to reduce it. So, we started thinking about attaching rollers made of a material other than steel. The final solution was to insert classic rollers in polyurethane beds called suspension cartridge - which are roller holders made of polyurethane and reinforced with a steel liner to...

The terminology of degraded areas is not uniform in Latvia and in the world at the moment - it is in the process of development and formulation. Some urban spatial plans also use the terms "abandoned sites" and "disordered sites". They are marked as territories where previous economic activity has been carried out, which is currently in force, but the involvement of these territories as functioning elements (especially - settlements) in the structure, their "return to life" is essential for the development of the ...

Recently, the echosounder systems in the Bulgarian Black Sea shelf have become a standard method of seabed exploration. The paper presents the present-day field activity of bathymetric research, which revised available hydrographic data for the seabed. The study aims to combine and update archival bathymetric data from contemporary multibeam echo-sounding scanning and archive single-beam data. This work presents activity in the second stage of Project -Multidisciplinary study of Burgas Bay - MidBay. (Composition o...

The status, abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities are one of the main basic indicators for the assessment and monitoring of forest ecosystems. In the context of the important role that microorganisms play in forest ecosystems, it is crucial to study and monitor their abundance in soil habitats. In order to supplement the knowledge about the soil microbial communities in the different soil horizons, we studied 16 soil profiles from the territory of Vitosha Nature Park. The soils from tested areas 1-...

Floods are one of the deadliest natural disasters in the world. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this is a consequence of the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation, changes in upstream land use, and a continuously increasing concentration of population and assets in flood-prone areas [1]. For this reason, flood prevention, and protection are a growing priority these days. Flood hazard mapping is a state-of-the-art tool for decision-makers and stakeholders when it comes to flood prote...