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:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
PragerU
PragerU, short for Prager University, is an American non-profit organization that creates videos on various political, economic and philosophical topics from an American conservative or right-wing perspective. The organization was co-founded by talk show host and writer Dennis Prager and Allen Estrin. The videos are posted on YouTube and usually feature a speaker who lectures for about five minutes. The organization relies on donations, and much of its early funding came from fracking billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks. PragerU is not a university or academic institution. It does not hold classes, does not grant certifications or diplomas, and is not accredited by any recognized body.
  • 2.0K
  • 11 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. 
  • 2.0K
  • 27 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Monitoring Net Land Take in Europe
Land as an environmental resource has gained increasing importance in European policies. The target of “no net land take” by 2050, set by the 2011 Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, is also reinforced by the Soil Strategy of the European Union for 2030. Net land take evaluates, for a given period, the difference between land take and developed land re-naturalization. Its reduction is only feasible by increasing the re-naturalization of developed land, an intervention undertaken in specific and rare circumstances. Accordingly, reusing or recycling developed land is the only intervention that substantially prevents land take. The following defines the three processes for which monitoring is necessary to evaluate the achievement of this target. Then, the legal framework of the European goal is presented, as well as the interventions that can contribute to its pursuit and the actions already taken by some countries and regions in Europe towards this end.
  • 1.9K
  • 13 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Trends in Bioenergy Production
A wide range of studies have been performed in the field of the usage of biomass for energy production, in order to contribute to the green transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies. Over the past 20 years (from 2000 to 2019), approximately 10,000 articles have been published in the “Agricultural and Biological Sciences” field on this theme, covering all stages of production—from the harvesting of crops to the particular type of energy produced. Articles were obtained from the SCOPUS database and examined with a text mining tool in order to analyze publication trends over the last two decades. Publications per year in the bioenergy theme have grown from 91 in 2000 to 773 in 2019. In particular the analyses showed how environmental aspects have increased their importance (from 7.3% to 11.8%), along with studies related to crop conditions (from 10.4% to 18.6%). Regarding the use of energy produced, growing trends were recognized for the impact of biofuels (mentions moved from 0.14 times per article in 2000 to 0.38 in 2019) and biogases (from 0.14 to 0.42 mentions).
  • 1.9K
  • 28 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Illegal Toxic Waste Dumping
Poor management of hazardous waste can lead to environmental pollution, injuries, and adverse health risks. Children’s exposure to hazardous waste may cause serious acute and chronic health problems due to their higher vulnerability to the toxic effects of chemicals. 
  • 1.9K
  • 24 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Archimedes Screw Turbines
Archimedes Screws Turbines (ASTs) are a new form of generators for small hydroelectric powerplants that could be applied even in low head sites. ASTs offer a clean and renewable source of energy. They are safer for wildlife and especially fish. The low rotation speed of ASTs reduces negative impacts on aquatic life and fish. Considering the flexibility and advantages of ASTs, they offer economic, social, and environmental advantages to support sustainable development to: - Increase the number of suitable sites and maximize power generation.- Retrofit old dams or upgrade current dams or mills to make them economically (power generation) and environmentally (renewable energy) reasonable.- Reduce the hydroelectricity major operational and/or maintenance costs.- Reduce the disturbance of natural erosion and sedimentation processes.- Make hydropower generation safer for aquatic wildlife, especially for fish.- Generate electricity for small communities, developing countries, and regions with limited access to the power grid or other infrastructures, or regions that are hard to access or connect to the power grid.  
  • 1.9K
  • 12 Jan 2022
Topic Review
E-Device Purchase and Disposal Behaviours in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the high-income countries in the Middle Eastern region and is vying for sustainable development in every sector. One of the UAE sustainable development goals is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; hence, the emphasis is on circular economy. UAE is one of largest consumers of e-devices, and their proper disposal is of paramount importance. E-waste disposal awareness leads to better disposal behaviors.
  • 1.9K
  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Performance Index
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) developed by Yale University is regarded as an all-inclusive proxy to examine the country’s environmental conditions. Ozturk et al. also argued that CO2 emissions only cover a small part of the total environmental pollution. The recently revised EPI of 2020 comprises 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories. It ranks countries under two domains, environmental health and ecosystem vitality, which demonstrate the environmental pollution impacts on human health and also the effects that ensue on the ecosystem through environmental pollution. The Environmental Health Index (HLT) measures the quality of air, water, and exposure to heavy metals. The Ecosystem Vitality Index (ECO) considers issues such as climate change and biodiversity. 
  • 1.9K
  • 16 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Barriers of Small-Scale Biogas Plants in Indonesia
By 2025, biogas is estimated to become a larger part of Indonesia’s energy mix. Biogas is a renewable energy source that also has economic and environmental advantages. Domestic biogas generation has been embraced in Indonesia as a response to the country’s energy security concerns in rural areas. Since the 1970s, 48,038 biogas plants have been built in the region. To fully develop this technology, Indonesia must discontinue relying on fossil fuels and substitute current fossil-fuel-based energy.
  • 1.9K
  • 25 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Radioactivity in Plastic Materials
All fossil combustible materials, such as coal and crude oil, contain radioactive elements, which origin from the natural decay series of uranium and thorium. The basic material for the synthesis of plastics is crude oil. Therefore, plastics may contain radionuclides. The gamma ray analysis of different rubbish bags used in the city of Basel show a clear contamination with uranium, radium (226Ra and 228Ra) and lead (210Pb), resulting in a yearly charge of 300, 300, 150 and 3,000 MBq each. In comparison with the contamination level of the burning ashes, these charges are not relevant (less than 1% of the content in the slags from the waste incineration). Nonetheless, we note a permanent displacement of long-lived natural radionuclides to landfill-sites.
  • 1.9K
  • 05 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Tropical Savanna Climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories Aw (for a dry winter) and As (for a dry summer). Tropical savanna climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C (64 °F) in every month of the year and typically a pronounced dry season, with the driest month having less than 60 mm (2.36 inches) of precipitation and also less than [math]\displaystyle{ 100-\left (\frac{Total\ Annual\ Precipitation\ (mm)}{25} \right) }[/math] of precipitation :200–1 This latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical monsoon climate, whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation but has more than [math]\displaystyle{ 100-\left (\frac{Total\ Annual\ Precipitation\ (mm)}{25} \right) }[/math] of precipitation. In essence, a tropical savanna climate tends to either see less rainfall than a tropical monsoon climate or have more pronounced dry season(s). In tropical savanna climates, the dry season can become severe, and often drought conditions prevail during the course of the year. Tropical savanna climates often feature tree-studded grasslands, rather than thick jungle. It is this widespread occurrence of tall, coarse grass (called savanna) which has led to Aw and As climates often being referred to as tropical savanna. However, there is some doubt whether tropical grasslands are climatically induced. Additionally, pure savannas, without trees, are the exception rather than the rule.
  • 1.9K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
ESG in the Banking Sector
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is currently one of the main focus areas for policy makers worldwide.
  • 1.8K
  • 06 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Foams in Wastewater Treatment Plants
The formation of persistent foams can be a critical problem in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as it could lead to a series of operational problems, especially the reduction of the overall system performance. To date, the effects of foaming in the WWTPs are a problem that is currently very common and shared, but which to date is treated mainly only at the management level and still too little studied through a globally shared scientific method: the complexity of the phenomenon and the systems have led to numerous partially contradictory descriptions and hypotheses over the years. The goal must be to suggest future research directions and indicate promising strategies to prevent or control the formation of foams in WWTPs. This study examines and investigates the problem of foams by a methodological approach of research through a review on the state of the art: the factors influencing the formation of foams are described first (such as surfactants and/or extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs)), then the known methods for the evaluation of foaming, both direct and indirect, are presented, with the aim of identifying the correct and best (from the management point of view) control and/or prevention strategies to be applied in the future in WWTPs.
  • 1.8K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Instrumental Temperature Record
The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures. Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations, buoys and ships around the globe. The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series, which starts in 1659. The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850. In recent decades, more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths allows estimates of ocean heat content, but these samples do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets.
  • 1.8K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Monitoring
Human activities and climate change constitute the contemporary catalyst for natural processes and their impacts, i.e., geo-environmental hazards. Globally, natural catastrophic phenomena and hazards, such as drought, soil erosion, quantitative and qualitative degradation of groundwater, frost, flooding, sea level rise, etc., are intensified by anthropogenic factors. Thus, they present rapid increase in intensity, frequency of occurrence, spatial density, and significant spread of the areas of occurrence. The impact of these phenomena is devastating to human life and to global economies, private holdings, infrastructure, etc., while in a wider context it has a very negative effect on the social, environmental, and economic status of the affected region. Geospatial technologies including Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing—Earth Observation as well as related spatial data analysis tools, models, databases, contribute nowadays significantly in predicting, preventing, researching, addressing, rehabilitating, and managing these phenomena and their effects. 
  • 1.8K
  • 20 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Climate Oscillation
A climate oscillation or climate cycle is any recurring cyclical oscillation within global or regional climate, and is a type of climate pattern. These fluctuations in atmospheric temperature, sea surface temperature, precipitation or other parameters can be quasi-periodic, often occurring on inter-annual, multi-annual, decadal, multidecadal, century-wide, millennial or longer timescales. They are not perfectly periodic and a Fourier analysis of the data does not give a sharp spectrum. A prominent example is the El Niño Southern Oscillation, involving sea surface temperatures along a stretch of the equatorial Central and East Pacific Ocean and the western coast of tropical South America, but which affects climate worldwide. Records of past climate conditions are recovered through geological examination of proxies, found in glacier ice, sea bed sediment, tree ring studies or otherwise.
  • 1.8K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fungal Pellets Towards Heavy Metals
The biosorption on fungal pellets is getting attention as an attractive water remediation technique, as it offers an enhanced biomass separation and a high resilience in severe environmental conditions. In this entry, biosorption capacity of fungal pellets towards heavy metals was reviewed. Available data about the adsorption capacity of pellets, their removal efficiency, and the operational conditions used were collected and synthesized. It was found that the biosorption of complex mixtures of pollutants on fungal pellets is scarcely studied, as well as the interfering effect of anions commonly found in water and wastewater. Furthermore, there is a lack of research with real wastewater and at pilot and large scale. These topics need to be further explored to take full advantage of fungal pellets on improving the quality of aquatic systems.
  • 1.8K
  • 04 May 2021
Topic Review
Media Coverage of Global Warming
Media coverage of global warming has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media. Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias. Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained.
  • 1.8K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Wastewater Refinery
The concept of wastewater refinery introduces a new concept of wastewater treatment and management that aims at extracting the most of wastewater components such as water, energy, nitrogen, phosphorous, to co-produce different valuable outputs. It represents a paradigmatic shift in wastewater management, and it is well aligned with the concept of circular economy. A case study on Qatar’s wastewater revealed that significant quantities of valuable resources are embodied in the country’s wastewater, with potential to be recovered. Valorisation of organic constituents and the recovery of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphide should be given priority.
  • 1.8K
  • 05 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Phenol
Phenol and its derivatives are hazardous, teratogenic and mutagenic, and have gained significant attention in recent years due to their high toxicity even at low concentrations. Phenolic compounds appear in petroleum refinery wastewater from several sources, such as the neutralized spent caustic waste streams, the tank water drain, the desalter effluent and the production unit. Therefore, effective treatments of such wastewaters are crucial. Conventional techniques used to treat these wastewaters pose several drawbacks, such as incomplete or low efficient removal of phenols.
  • 1.8K
  • 30 Aug 2021
  • Page
  • of
  • 50
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
ScholarVision Creations
Feedback