You're using an outdated browser. Please upgrade to a modern browser for the best experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Air Quality during Covid-19 Lockdown
Air pollution exposure is one of the greatest risks to health worldwide. It is estimated to be responsible for about 4.2 million deaths around the world every year owing to many serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke, acute and chronic respiratory diseases, and lung cancer. The WHO guideline limits are exceeded in several areas around the world, and it is estimated that about 90% of the world’s population is exposed to high air pollution levels, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to implement severe mobility restriction measures to limit the spread of the virus. This represented a unique opportunity to study the impact of mobility on urban air quality. Several studies which have investigated the relations between the quality of the air and such containment measures have shown the significant reduction of the main pollutants in the urban environment so to encourage the adoption of new approaches for the improvement of the quality of air in the cities. The aims of this entry are both a brief analysis and a discussion of the results presented in several papers to understand the relationships between COVID-19 containment measures and air quality in urban areas.
  • 4.0K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian public policy think tank founded in 1984 and based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The Institute conducts work on issues including education reform, government spending, taxation, healthcare, tobacco policy, global warming, hydraulic fracturing, information technology, and free-market environmentalism. In the 1990s, the Heartland Institute worked with the tobacco company Philip Morris to attempt to discredit the health risks of secondhand smoke and to lobby against smoking bans.:233–34 Since the 2000s, the Heartland Institute has been a leading promoter of climate change denial. It rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and says that policies to fight it would be damaging to the economy.
  • 3.9K
  • 30 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Cost Analysis
The techno-economic analysis (TEA) and the life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) are the most widely used approaches for modeling and calculating processes’ economic impacts. A simulation-based TEA is a cost-benefit analysis that simultaneously considers technical and economic factors. In addition, the method facilitates the development of the entire project and provides a systematic approach for examining the interrelationships between economic and technological aspects. When it comes to economic studies, it is intimately bonded with uncertainty. There are numerous uncertainty sources, classified in various ways. The uncertainty reflects “an inability to determine the precise value of one or more parameters affecting a system.” The variability refers to the different values a given parameter may take. This implies that a probability density function (PDF), for instance, can be employed to estimate and quantify the variability of a given parameter. The bias refers to “assumptions that skew an analysis in a certain direction while ignoring other legitimate alternatives, factors, or data.” 
  • 3.9K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Climate Fiction
Climate fiction (sometimes shortened cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change and global warming. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works may take place in the world as we know it or in the near future. University courses on literature and environmental issues may include climate change fiction in their syllabi. This body of literature has been discussed by a variety of publications, including The New York Times , The Guardian , and Dissent magazine, among other international media outlets.
  • 3.9K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Organic Matter Sources in Lake Sediments
Sedimentary organic matter is an important component of the metabolism of a lake’s ecosystem, and it is generally derived from both the watershed and the primary productivity of a lake. Understanding the sources of organic matter in lakes and lake trophic status is important when evaluating the quality of lake ecosystems.
  • 3.9K
  • 01 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Energiewende in Germany
The Energiewende (German for energy transition) is the planned transition by Germany to a low carbon, environmentally sound, reliable, and affordable energy supply. The term Energiewende is regularly used in English language publications without being translated (a loanword).:4 The new system will rely heavily on renewable energy (particularly wind, photovoltaics, and hydroelectricity), energy efficiency, and energy demand management. Most if not all existing coal-fired generation will need to be retired. The phase-out of Germany's fleet of nuclear reactors, to be complete by 2022, is a key part of the program. Legislative support for the Energiewende was passed in late 2010 and includes greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of 80–95% by 2050 (relative to 1990) and a renewable energy target of 60% by 2050. These targets are ambitious. The Berlin-based policy institute Agora Energiewende noted that "while the German approach is not unique worldwide, the speed and scope of the Energiewende are exceptional". The Energiewende also seeks a greater transparency in relation to national energy policy formation. Germany has made significant progress on its GHG emissions reduction target, achieving a 27% decrease between 1990 and 2014. However the country will need to maintain an average GHG emissions abatement rate of 3.5% per year to reach its Energiewende goal, equal to the maximum historical value thus far. As of 2013, Germany spends €1.5 billion per year on energy research in an effort to solve the technical and social issues raised by the transition. This includes a number of computer studies that have confirmed the feasibility and a similar cost (relative to business-as-usual and given that carbon is adequately priced) of the Energiewende.
  • 3.9K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Intelligence, A Holistic Approach
The human beings intrinsically, intensively, and strongly guard their life and soul. This instinctive protection is also supported by the social, cultural, religious, and legal principles and regulations, too. If we consider the means of realizing this phenomenon to be the instinctive intelligence of man in preserving its life and health, we must admit that humans do not have such intelligence about their environment and this is a rare paradox. So, why cannot humans understand that the destruction of the environment will ultimately cause the destruction of the human race, while these same humans are incredibly industrious, active, and confident in guarding their own lives? This apparent and dangerous contradiction can be attributed to the lack of intelligence which historical experiences show it has been clearly prominent among individuals and human groups in the traditional world, and more likely in prehistoric man and has been badly damaged and destroyed in modern times and with the acceptance of the duet between man and nature. This is the intelligence that has to be revitalized again in an acceptable manner for the modern human beings. The mental relationship between people and the environment comes from a chain of experiences and knowledge, and the meaning of the environment derives from its functions. This intelligence, which we call "Environmental Intelligence", is the power of calculation, analysis, and presupposition that can help humans establish an organic and immediate relationship between their own partial actions and the large and subtle environmental effects that would immediately and undoubtedly influence the whole society and the entire environment and eventually every individual members of the society. This is the intelligence that has to have an individual and collective aspect and be learnt and transferred in a holistic connection of the individual and society and it is the intelligence that can establish a systematic and nonlinear relationship between the individual, society, environment and the bioenvironmental data. The acquisition and deepening of such intelligence can bridge the gaps that are existent in the human community and are dangerously growing on a daily basis even with the extensive and unprecedented instructions and notifications.
  • 3.8K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Climate Apocalypse
A climate apocalypse (also called a climate dystopia and a climate-induced collapse, among other names) is a hypothetical scenario involving the global collapse of human civilization and potential human extinction as either a direct or indirect result of anthropogenic climate change and ecological breakdown. Under a global catastrophe of this scale, some or all of the Earth may be rendered uninhabitable as a result of extreme temperatures, severe weather events, an inability to grow crops, and an altered composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Although there is consensus on the attribution of recent climate change to human activity, and concern about future tipping points and feedback loops, there is no consensus on the likelihood of climate-induced collapse.
  • 3.8K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Production of Edible Films and Coatings
Generally, edible films and coatings are the primary forms of edible food packaging. The differences between edible films and coatings lie in their physical form and application process. Edible films are obtained as solid laminated sheets and then used as a food wrap that can be removed or consumed with food, whereas coatings are applied to foods in liquid form by coating, spraying, and immersion. After drying, an edible layer over the food is formed, and it can either be removed or consumed.
  • 3.8K
  • 21 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Heavy Metals and Metalloids
The contamination of soil by heavy metals and metalloids is a worldwide problem due to the accumulation of these compounds in the environment, endangering human health, plants, and animals. Heavy metals and metalloids are normally present in nature, but the rise of industrialization has led to concentrations higher than the admissible ones. They are non-biodegradable and toxic, even at very low concentrations. Several techniques have been developed over the years: - physical remediation (e.g., washing, thermal desorption, solidification), - chemical remediation (e.g., adsorption, catalysis, precipitation/solubilization, electrokinetic methods), - biological remediation (e.g., biodegradation, phytoremediation, bioventing), and combined remediation (e.g., electrokinetic–microbial remediation; washing–microbial degradation).
  • 3.8K
  • 20 May 2021
Topic Review
Life Cycle Assessment in Aviation
With growing environmental awareness and the resulting pressure on aviation, ecological impact assessments are becoming increasingly important. Life cycle assessment has been widely used in the literature as a tool to assess the environmental impact of aircraft. In the following, a brief overview of the existing research on the topic of life cycle assessment in aviation is given. This is concluded with a short summary and an introduction to a possible combination with discrete-event simulation.
  • 3.8K
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Tropical Monsoon Climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category "Am". Tropical monsoon climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C (64 °F) in every month of the year and a dry season. :200–1 Tropical monsoon climates is the intermediate climate between the wet Af (or tropical rainforest climate) and the drier Aw (or tropical savanna climate). A tropical monsoon climate, however, has its driest month seeing on average less than 60 mm, but more than [math]\displaystyle{ 100-\left ( \frac{Total\ Annual\ Precipitation\ (mm)}{25} \right ) }[/math]. This latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical savanna climate, whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation and also less than [math]\displaystyle{ 100-\left ( \frac{Total\ Annual\ Precipitation\ (mm)}{25} \right ) }[/math] of average monthly precipitation. In essence, a tropical monsoon climate tends to either see more rainfall than a tropical savanna climate or have less pronounced dry seasons. Additionally, a tropical monsoon climate tends to see less variance in temperatures during the course of the year than a tropical savanna climate. This climate has a driest month which nearly always occurs at or soon after the "winter" solstice for that side of the equator.
  • 3.8K
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Dr. Dipankar Chakraborti: A Legend of Arsenic Research
This encyclopedia provides a brief biography of a legendary scientist Dr. Dipankar Chakraborti. Dr. Chakraborti pioneered arsenic research in the Ganga Meghna Brahmaputra Basin and dedicated his entire life to researching and serving arsenic-affected communities in India and Bangladesh. 
  • 3.7K
  • 22 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Hydraulics
Environmental Hydraulics (EH) is the scientific study of environmental water flows and their related transport and transformation processes in natural water systems. 
  • 3.7K
  • 14 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton (/ˌfaɪtoʊˈplæŋktən/) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. However, when present in high enough numbers, some varieties may be noticeable as colored patches on the water surface due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells and accessory pigments (such as phycobiliproteins or xanthophylls) in some species. About 1% of the global biomass is due to phytoplankton.
  • 3.7K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Runaway Climate Change
Runaway climate change or runaway global warming is hypothesized to follow a tipping point in the climate system, after accumulated climate change initiates a reinforcing positive feedback. This rapid acceleration in climate change may lead to potentially irreversible damage to the climate system, making timely mitigation efforts unfeasible. This is thought to cause the climate to rapidly change until it reaches a new stable condition. These phrases may be used with reference to concerns about rapid global warming. Some astronomers use the expression runaway greenhouse effect to describe a situation where the climate deviates catastrophically and permanently from the original state—as happened on Venus. Although these terms are rarely used in the peer-reviewed climatological literature, that literature does use the similar phrase "runaway greenhouse effect", which refers specifically to climate changes that cause a planetary body's water to boil off.
  • 3.6K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Types of Pipeline Anomalies
Pipelines are considered the most efficient way to transport oil and gas resources. However, this advantage of pipelines may be lost if pipeline integrity is not ensured. Geometric deformations, metal losses, and crack-type anomalies caused by various reasons in the pipeline threaten the integrity of the pipeline. Therefore, it is important to examine the causes of occurrence, hazard potentials, and management methods of pipeline anomalies as part of pipeline integrity management. 
  • 3.6K
  • 27 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Water-Saving Agricultural Technologies
Increasing food demand has exerted tremendous stress on agricultural water usages worldwide, often with a threat to sustainability in agricultural production and, hence, food security. Various resource-conservation technologies like conservation agriculture (CA) and water-saving measures are being increasingly adopted to overcome these problems. While these technologies provide some short- and long-term benefits of reduced labor costs, stabilized or increased crop yield, increased water productivity, and improved soil health at farm scale, their overall impacts on hydrology outcomes remain unclear at larger temporal and spatial scales. Although directly linked to the regional hydrological cycle, irrigation remains a less understood component. The ecological conditions arising from the hydrology outcomes of resource-conservation technologies are associated with sustainability in agricultural production.
  • 3.5K
  • 22 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Physical, Chemical, and Environmental Properties of Phthalates
Phthalic acid esters (PAEs), commonly named phthalates, are a class of dialkyl or alkyl/aryl esters of phthalic acid (1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid) structured in one benzene ring linked with two aliphatic ester groups, most commonly in the ortho configuration.
  • 3.5K
  • 13 Jun 2023
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Degrowth Perspective for Sustainability in Built Environments
Degrowth, as a social movement, a political project, and an academic paradigm, aims to find ways that can lead to harmonious co-existence between humanity and nature, between humans and non-humans, and within humanity, including oneself. Seen through the lens of degrowth, everything becomes subject to reflection, critique, re-evaluation, and re-imagining. This concerns environments created by humans in a long process of interaction with nature, i.e., built environments. Built environments are always in becoming. This entry contemplates the implications of degrowth for intentionally directing this becoming towards genuine sustainability.
  • 3.4K
  • 13 Apr 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 51
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Academic Video Service
Feedback