Summary

Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today, it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems. Environmental studies are incorporating more of the social sciences in order to understand human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. This entry collection features information about design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.

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Topic Review
Driver's age and road crash
It has been widely reported that younger and older drivers have an excess risk of causing a road crash. Two casual hypotheses may coexist: the riskier driving behaviors and age-related mechanisms in extreme age groups (direct path) and the different environmental and vehicle circumstances (indirect path). Our aim was to quantify, through a mediation analysis, the percentage contribution of both paths. A case-control study was designed from the Spanish Register of Road Crashes with victims from 2014 to 2017. Assuming a quasi-induced exposure approach, controls were non-responsible drivers involved in clean collisions between two or more vehicles (n = 52,131). Responsible drivers for these collisions plus drivers involved in single crashes constituted the case group (n = 82,071). A logit model in which the outcome was the log (odds) of causing a road crash and the exposure was age groups was adjusted for driver, vehicle and environmental factors. The highest crash risk was observed in extreme age groups, compared to the 35-44 year old age group: the youngest (18-24 years old, odds ratio = 2.14, 95% confidence interval: 2.06-2.24) and the oldest drivers (>74 years old, odds ratio = 3.30, 95% confidence interval: 3.04-2.58). The mediation analysis identified the direct path as the main explanatory mechanism for these increases: 89% in the youngest and 93% in the oldest drivers. These data support the hypothesis that the excess crash risk observed for younger and older drivers is mainly related to their higher frequency of risky driving behaviors and age-related loss of capabilities. Preventive strategies in extreme-aged drivers should focus on decreasing these behaviors.
  • 1.3K
  • 05 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Soundscape archaeology
Through an approach that aims to recognise and investigate the religious and public spaces of the past as “embodied spaces” and “sensory artefacts”, we can raise hypotheses on the sound experience in the ancient world and on the complex relationship between spaces and social interactions, making use of the potential provided by the application of 3D technology to virtual acoustics.  
  • 1.8K
  • 27 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Bacterial Cellulose in Wastewater Treatment
Bacterial cellulose membranes have been shown to be efficient as filters for the removal of various contaminants, including biological and chemical agents or heavy metals. Therefore, their use could make an important contribution to bio-based technological development in the circular economy. Moreover, they can be used to produce new materials for industry, taking into consideration current environmental preservation policies aimed at a more efficient use of energy.
  • 3.7K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Intelligent Transport Systems
Intelligent transport systems enable vehicles to communicate with each other and with the environment, ensuring road safety. Their implementation can help reduce the number of accidents, especially in stretches of s-curves, where speed control is essential to ensure the safety of drivers, and under hazardous weather conditions. Such systems promptly notify drivers about potentially dangerous road conditions, such as fog, so that they can better adapt their driving behavior.
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Wind Turbine Icing Modelling Approaches
In this entry, a comprehensive review of wind turbine icing modelling is presented. The commonly applied approaches and the recent advances have been reported based on a systematic and concise literature review. The paper presents a panorama of the current modelling and simulation studies dealing with different aspects of ice accretion on wind turbines.
  • 1.3K
  • 24 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Climate-Smart Agriculture of Hungarian Agribusiness
Climate change and agriculture interact with each other in many ways and have a complex impact. The agriculture sector needs to be prepared to adapt to the expected effects of climate change, and emphasis must be placed on prevention to achieve emission reduction targets. The research explores the current situation in the agricultural sector, the risks of climate change, as well as the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) solutions that appear at Hungarian agribusiness. Examining the climate innovation activities of farms shows a coherence of the practical application. The research is based on a questionnaire survey of Hungarian agribusiness and the country directorates of the National Chamber of Agriculture. The investigation confirmed that although farmers are susceptible to Agri-Innovation, they only partly exploit the potential of digitalization. For agriculture, the spread of agricultural digitalization and technology transfer is an excellent opportunity to increase agricultural production, maintain and improve its market position, and increase its digital maturity, which can also enhance the integration of climate innovation and sustainability aspects supporting the green economic development.
  • 1.8K
  • 24 Sep 2021
Topic Review
The Heart of Borneo
The HoB is situated in Borneo, the third-largest island in the world next to Greenland and New Guinea. It is shared by Indonesia (Kalimantan) covering an area of 745,567 square kilometers (km2), Borneo Malaysia, comprising the states of Sarawak and Sabah with an area of 124,449 km2 and 73,711 km2, respectively, and a small-nation sate, Brunei Darussalam (5765 km2). The rainforests in Borneo, which evolved between 100 and 150 million years ago, are among the most biologically diverse on Earth. Representing just one percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface, the island of Borneo holds about six percent of the world’s plant and animal species. There are approximately 15,000 flowering plants and 3000 species of trees found in Borneo’s forest, including 6000 endemic species. The biologically diverse island is recognized as a globally significant biodiversity ‘hotspot’. In addition, the uplands of Borneo are a source of at least 14 of the 20 major rivers on the island. Thus, environmentally sustainable resource management is critically important in maintaining the ecological health of riverine systems, which underpin the socio-economic progress of 17 million people in Borneo.
  • 4.5K
  • 23 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Biofuels for Internal Combustion Engine
Biofuel, a cost-effective, safe, and environmentally benign fuel produced from renewable sources, has been accepted as a sustainable replacement and a panacea for the damaging effects of the exploration for and consumption of fossil-based fuels.
  • 4.1K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Medicago tunetana (Murb.) A.W. Hill
Medicago tunetana (Murb.) A.W. Hill, a perennial endemic pastoral species, grows at the canopy of Pinus halepensis Mill. plantations forest of the Tunisian Dorsal. Although M. tunetana is an interested pasture legume with its abiotic stress tolerance  rhizome production, it is a rare species and threatened to disappear because of overgrazing. Whereas, it could contribute in the agro-pastoral systems development in its native regions of Tunisian ridge.
  • 1.2K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Carbon Potential of Green Hydrogen
As a potential storage material, hydrogen (H2) is considered to be promising and considerable research has been invested into this matter. Scientists and industry discriminate between different colors of hydrogen depending on the method of production: Green hydrogen, for example, implies that production is (almost) CO2-neutral using e.g., bio gas or renewable energies such as wind power; whereas gray hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels such as oil or gas. Turquoise hydrogen implies using methane pyrolysis fueled by renewable energy sources, i.e., it is also considered to be CO2-neutral.
  • 1.1K
  • 22 Sep 2021
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