Modern Advances in Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 2

To support land use and environmental planning, government planning and especially continuous monitoring are essential. When there is no such supervisory action, population occupation and expansion can occur in areas belonging to the federal government or in areas that should be preserved, thus impairing the social and environmental balance. This study analyzes the demarcation method of riverine and accreted land of the Brazilian Federal Heritage Department and proposes the incorporation of the flow rate corresponding to the recurrence interval of two years, as recommended by the State Environmental Institute of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The case study of the Rio de Janeiro section of the Paraiba do Sul River was investigated, and the results indicate that the Federal Heritage Department’s method does not consider the ongoing anthropization of the river, caused mainly by the construction and operation of hydroelectric plants. In addition, it was observed that the limnimetric scales of the studied gauging stations are influenced by constant changes in the riverbed and by riverbank occupation, making it difficult to estimate the ordinary flood level. The study concludes by suggesting the adoption of a flow rate with a recurrence interval of two years and the simulation of the runoff conditions for demarcation of the average ordinary flood line. It is believed that the demarcation of the MOFL along a river should not be evaluated individually at each gauging station or site of interest because the river has its own dynamic flow. Thus, future studies should model the hydrodynamic runoff conditions of the Rio de Janeiro section of the Paraíba do Sul River to establish the water levels corresponding to floods with an RI of 2 years and then confirm these levels on site through topo-bathymetric surveys.

Environmental issues and the need for sustainable use of water resources again changed the approach to transboundary water resources at the end of the 20^th century and in the early 2000s. considered that “water became one of the main issues of the political agenda, both national and internationally”. The present study addresses the issue of shared management of transboundary water resources, using the Amazon river basin as a case study. To evaluate risks, two scenarios (current and future) were simulated using the methodology proposed by the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme – River Basins. The results obtained allowed the inference that the Amazon Basin, considering all indicators, is in the “moderate” category of risk within the current scenario. In turn, when only the “governance” indicator was considered, reflected through projected water politics tensions, the risk category for the basin becomes “high”, both in the current and future scenarios (2030 and 2050). It is convenient for states to establish their priorities and, jointly and consensually, to establish clear agreements and rules for water monitoring, use and supervision. This procedure should be performed in an integrated manner, with observance of international agreements, which should produce compatibility between the management policies and instruments of the countries involved. In conclusion, it is recommended that states should establish clear priorities and rules for water resource monitoring, use and supervision.

The advances in information technology and opportunities for management and analysis, lead to the generalization of GIS at all levels of the territory. In order to develop an urban GIS of Fez, we began with the scoping and feasibility study of the system. This strategic review has identified the characteristics of the urban areas, their problems, needs and existing potential, both in terms of data, equipment or personnel. This contribution focuses on a conceptual modeling of the geospatial database, the proposed template for the system and the quality assurance plan for the project. According to the feasibility study conducted during the first phase, the system must have an architecture respecting the intervention of actors in the city. Therefore, the implementation of the system requires an adequate hardware and software platform for optimum operation of the proposed urban GIS. The GIS is based on a transversal architecture respecting the intervention of actors in the urban areas of Fez, and allowing mutual access to the various actors according to their profiles. After identifying the technical choices, the financing of this scenario has been proposed. To ensure compliance with quality standards for the project and determining the conditions of satisfaction of products and activities of the project, a quality assurance plan was necessary. After identifying technical choices, the financing plan of this scenario has been proposed. This arrangement is structured in three parts: Hardware, Software and Development/Training.

Jordan lies in the northwestern part of the Arabian Plate. The structures and sedimentation were controlled by the tectonic evolution with respect to the configuration of the Arabian Plate. Upper cretaceous and Lower Tertiary Formations groundwater aquifers are associated with huge reserves of oil shale deposits in Harrana and Azraq Basins are evaluated in terms of water qualities and hydrochemical processes. The oil shale deposits are found within the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation. The Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation represents the intermediate formation between the Lower Aquifer Amman Silicified Limestone and the overburden, which represents the overlying Upper Aquifers of Um Rijam Chalk and Wadi Shallala Chalk. This study aimed to improve the understanding of Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation as a sealing potential based on water quality and hydrochemical data of the different aquifers. Sixty water samples were collected from Amman Silicified Limestone Aquifer, High Grade Zone of Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation and from the overburden of Um Rijam Chalk and Wadi Shallala Chalk aquifers. The hydrochemistry of the collected groundwater samples represents a signature that reflects the sum of all physical and chemical processes and reactions that affected the water characteristics from the time of infiltration until reaching the aquifer The evaluation of the main hydrochemical processes affecting the groundwater quality were carried out by interpreting the ionic relationships and the water quality types using Piper and Durov diagrams. Comprehensive statistical analyses (Factor and Cluster Analyses) were conducted on the water quality parameters.  The factor analyses can extract four factors from the water quality parameters of the Harrana wells Area-1 and for Azraq wells in Area-2. These factors are used to interpret the different geochemical processes affecting the groundwater quality parameters. Cluster analyses divided the Harrana wells into three groups. Cluster I included 26 wells with minimum mean concentrations of cations and anions, while cluster III included the wells with the highest concentrations in the water quality parameters. Cluster II included eight wells with intermediate concentrations. Azraq Area-2 wells are clustered into three groups. Cluster I includes seven wells with lowest water quality (highest concentrations); cluster II includes 12 wells and exhibits the lowest concentrations of ions and Cluster III includes five wells that show intermediate ions concentrations. The interpretation indicated that the primary factors controlling the groundwater chemistry of Azraq and Harrana appeared to be dissolution processes of the carbonate rocks containing traces of evaporitic minerals, ion exchange and reversal ion exchange processes. Moreover, the water quality in the study areas is not suitable for drinking purposes.

Livestock wastewater is mainly treated with activated sludge, but ions such as phosphate, potassium, ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate remain in the effluent. In this study, the effects of residual ions on phosphorus recovery using the magnesium potassium phosphate (MPP) crystallization were investigated. If coexisting ions affect the products, the potassium (K) to phosphorus (P) molar ratio (K/P) of the precipitate will deviate from equimolar. Artificial wastewater test solutions containing 5.6–20.3 mM ammonium, 25.6 mM potassium, 6.5 mM phosphorus, 0–7.35 mM nitrate, and 0–3.06 mM sulfate were used. The optimum operating pH and amount of magnesium required to give a high phosphorus removal and recovery rates were determined. The experimental apparatus used a 10-L aerated and stirred reactor, and a 5-L settling tank. The K/P ratio in the precipitate was approximately 1 after using optimum conditions. Continuous 2-h treatment generated a white precipitate containing about 30 g of needle-like crystals. The effects of varying the ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate ion concentrations in the artificial effluent were also investigated. Ammonium concentration of 8 mM or more and sulfate concentration of 3 mM or more caused the K/P ratio to decrease to about 0.7 and 0.5, respectively. Varying the nitrate concentration did not affect the K/P ratio, even at a nitrate concentration of 7.35 mM. We also investigated the generation of products in the reaction tank and the behavior in the settling tank. With mixing in the reaction vessel by air agitation, the generation of primary nuclei occurred within 60 s, and growth to secondary nuclei was confirmed. The suspension containing the particles overflowed into a settling tank and separated into particles and treated water. It was found that K? in the MPP crystal was eluted by allowing the MPP crystal to stand for 7 h or more in the settling tank. Therefore, it was concluded that management of the interval between solids removal was important in controlling the composition of the solid.

Political, financial and operational supports given to these small states to the separatist freedom movement (OPM) has been done in a spirit of togetherness among the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). This international organization based on identity of Melanesian brotherhood which formed in 1986 by 4 small states in the Pacific Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon and Vanuatu, also by Kanak National Liberation Front from New Caledonia. In various international forums, including the United Nations (UN), these small states are bound to the small developing states. These small states group sometime surprising international forum with a hard statement, so that they are recognized by the world, because their voting rights are equals to other members This organization was keen enough to promote the freedom movement of OPM to achieve independence Papua, that was why Indonesia tried to achieve the membership of Melanesian Spearhead Groups (MSG), because Indonesia has a strong argument that as an island country, it has 11 million Melanesian decendants on its scattered island as Papua, Mallocca, Buton, Southeast Nusa) characterized by their hair type, skin color, body figures and have similarities to the Melanesian in the south pacific.

The emergence of political maneuver that continue to attack sovereignty of the Indonesian government against Papua, raising a view of a need to have a grand strategy to enhance more understanding and gaining supports from the small island states regarding the free movement for Papua, especially in the UN forum through public diplomacy in the perspective of communication among nations.

The transportation sector is considered as one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, using alternative fuels is a challenging and promising task to meet emissions restrictions and protect the environment. In this chapter, the aim is to conduct a comparatively experimental investigation of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from an internal combustion engine, the engine is fed by gasoline available in the Saudi Arabian market rating octane number (RON 91 and RON 95) with admixtures of syngas with 0% E0, 5% E5 and 10% E10—by volume of anhydrous ethanol —and HE5 and HE10 with water concentrations of 5%, 10%, 30% and 40%—by volume of  hydrous ethanol at the presence of stoichiometric mixture regime, ?=1. An on-board plasma system used to produce syngas (H₂, CO, CO₂) through the partial oxidation of gasoline with air in a plasma-assisted fuel reformer. The syngas injected in a gasoline engine with a fuel injection system modified for operation with addition of some amount of syngas. This study is a continuation of a previous work, where the engine was investigated in terms of the performance and exhaust emissions where the engine was fueled by gasoline RON91/RON95, with an admixture of syngas and 5% by volume pure ethanol (E5) in the presence of different ultra-lean mixture regimes. The experimental results demonstrated a significant total reduction in NOx emissions and slightly increased in fuel consumption when mixing gasoline (RON 91 and RON 95), anhydrous ethanol (E5 and E10) and hydrous ethanol (HE5 and HE10) with syngas. For the use of hydrous ethanol (HE5 and HE10) along with the addition of syngas. For both RON 91 and RON 95, the lowest NOx emissions were found 60% in RON 91 and 72% in RON 95 at hydrous ethanol 40% water concentration. For future work, we plan to investigate the effect of reformer plasmatorch design on syngas yield and composition. We intend to modify the anode and some other parts of the plasmatorch and then evaluate performance of the fuel reforming process using these modified parts. The best feasible configuration and design of the plasmatorch yielding highest hydrogen content in syngas will be used for further operation with our engine test system.

Water scarcity is one of the major problems facing the world today. Although 70% of the surface of earth is covered by water, the percentage of population which have access to sufficient safe drinking water is very limited. The available water resources are also become unsuitable for usages due to mingling different types of contaminants in to the water bodies via release of industrial and domestic wastes. Currently, there is worldwide concern on proper treatment of wastewater prior to release them in to water bodies. Recently much attention has been focused on novel technologies such as nanotechnology which can be applied to invent new methods for water treatment. Among different types of water treatment methods, membrane filtration is a new method, which uses a semi-permeable membrane for filtration. These methods have some advantages over other methods such as free from chemicals, high scalability, low operational temperature, low power consumption, etc. Among them nanofiltration is one of the application of nanotechnology for improvement of the membrane filtration method. Electrospinning is the widely applied technique for fabrication of nanofiltration membranes. It is a cost effective, versatile technique which leads to fabricate membranes with superior qualities. Nanofilter membranes have been fabricated using polymers, nanotubes, graphene oxide, etc. Thin-?lm composite (TFC) membranes are fabricated combining different organic and inorganic compounds. Other than that, the conventional ceramic metal oxide as well as mixed matrix materials (MMMs) are used to produce nanofibrous membranes. Although many of these fabricated nanomaterials show superior qualities making them suitable candidates to apply to produce nanofilter membranes, they all are associated with drawbacks which prevent them from applying for commercial productions. Therefore, the future challenge is application of novel techniques and materials in order to overcome the drawbacks of these membranes and fabrication of perfect nanomaterial for water treatment.

On the Cavally River, located on the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, several hydraulic structures such as bridges and diversion channels are planned to be made in recent years in the operating perimeter of the Ity mining company. A 1D-2D hydraulic model was developed to design a diversion channel to cut a meander of the Cavally River in order to ensure hydraulic operation similar to the initial conditions of the river (water levels, flow and velocities). This model was designed with a flow rate of 240 m³/s and a Manning coefficient of 0.052 m^1/3.s^-1 for the minor bed and 0.06 m^1/3.s^-1 for the major bed. The results from the hydraulic model show that the hydraulic conditions (water levels, velocities) in the channel before and after the diversion remain almost like those of the Cavally River. Flow velocities in the Cavally River range from 0.1 to 1.6 m/s from upstream to downstream. Hydraulic conditions (water levels, flow and velocity) in the channel after diversion will remain substantially like the natural state of the watercourse. The diversion channel will therefore have no significant impact on the hydraulic operation of the Cavally River.

Aim: Within the context of existing socio-physical and housing environmental conditions, the study examines the incidence, prevalence, gender and spatial dimensions of four major communicable diseases –malaria, typhoid, cholera and diarhoea.

Place and Duration:  The study was conducted in eighteen peri-urban communities in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, between February and July 2008

 Study Design: The study combined a social survey of residents’ perception and six months hospital records of clinically diagnosed environment related diseases.

Methodology: Both primary and secondary data were used. A total of 200 questionnaires were randomly administered on household heads in selected communities to elicit information on housing, socio-economic characteristics of household heads and their perception of health effects of city encroachment. From six purposively selected health institutions, data on clinically diagnosed environment related diseases were obtained. Collected data were subjected to inferential statistics. The analysis is against the backdrop of the hypothesis that, in the cities of developing nations, health impacts will arise from or be compounded by haphazard land use patterns, population pressure on housing, lack of facilities and basic services such as water and sanitation, electricity and, poor environmental sanitation.

Results: The study revealed a general lack of basic infrastructural facilities and services. While houses were mainly of the bungalow type (72%) and owner occupied (63.5%), accessibility to houses was generally poor. A significant proportion of the houses (26.5%) had no toilet while, about 99 per cent of the respondents did not have access to pipe-borne water with 80 percent using nearby vacant land as refuse dump. The most prevalent diseases were malaria (53.5%) and typhoid (42.2%). The only cases of Cholera (2.2%) and diarhoea (2.2%), were recorded in Abaa community in Surulere Local Government Area. In all cases, Females were more vulnerable to malaria and typhoid (56.2% and 61.2%) than their male counterparts. Preparation of layout plans and close monitoring of development at the periurban areas and urgent provision of basic facilities and services are suggested.

Groundwater pollution, thereupon, has be-come an acute problem that if thrust aside will escalate to a point of no return. The purpose of this paper was to assess the quality of groundwater in Behshahr (Iran) based on water quality index (WQI). Sixteen water samples from this coastal aquifer were collected and analyzed to study physico-chemical parameters such as pH, hardness, chloride (Cl), electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS). The results showed that the annual average of TDS value increased by 343 mg/l between 1999 and 2015 due to anthropogenic activities. According to WQI, it was concluded that the groundwater quality degraded over the last sixteen-year period so that the percentage of samples identified as “good water” decreased by 18.5% and on the other hand, alas, the percentage of “poor water” quality soared by nearly 12.5%. Correspondence of WQI distribution diagram with that of chloride-bicarbonate ratio attests to the significant contribution of saltwater intrusion to groundwater quality deterioration in this area. This simple yet precise method presents a comprehensive interpretation of water quality in a basin. Its sensitivity to chloride that has high weight makes it a good measure for seeking out the threshold of saltwater intrusion in this study area.

The southern forest ecosystem of Cameroon extends from latitude 2° to 6°N and from 10° to 16°E. In order to investigate about the influence of climate factors on the infrastructures, the main parameters of local climate of that ecosystem have been evaluated. The results show that, the factors are stable and have a common trend. But, the abundance of precipitations; the important hydro-graphic network and the presence of dense forest appear as the majors climatic constraints that may be taken in account to ensure the stability of the infrastructures in forest ecosystem.