The Landra Wastewater Treatment Expert System is developed by the University of Pannonia (Hungary, Veszpr?Šm). The flexible, simulation-based software provides the possibility to choose the built-in mathematical models or the user may create a new one arbitrarily. A customized program codes can be created according to the technological description, the input data and the control strategy provided by the user. This way the efficiency and reliability of the system is significantly enhanced. An imp...
Autori: , Endre Domokos, Tatiana Yuzhakova, Viola Somogyi
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25888

AbstractDue to rapid growth in both population and economic development in China, water demand is increasing dramatically andChina is facing more and more severe water scarcity problems. Thus competitions for water (between uses, users and regions) areincreasing which make water use efficiency an important issue in China, together with the uneven spatial and temporaldistribution of water, all of which drive the Chinese government and water planners to find the optimal water resource allocationpl...
Autori: Adrian T. McDonald, Linda See, Martin Clarke, Yanan Jiang
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25961

AbstractThe transport of hazardous substances is an essential economic activity because it represents a quite relevant percentage of thetotal goods transportation. The risk associated to such an activity is fundamentally related to the possibility of an accidenttriggering that may cause negative environmental and public health consequences. A recent example is the Viareggio accident(2009), which involved the blast of tank wagons containing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and caused more than thirt...
Autori: Vincenzo Torretta
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26200

AbstractReliability model which can quantitatively calculate the probability of failure of storm sewer was developed in this study. Annualmaximum rainfall intensities of six South-Korean cities were used to determine the statistical distribution for reliability model.From the results of reliability analysis, it was found that statistical distribution for the annual maximum rainfall intensities of sixcities in Korea is well matched with Gumbel distribution. Rational equation was applied to determ...
Autori: Hyuk Jae Kwon
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26270

AbstractFault-Trees (FT) and Event-Trees (ET) are well recognized techniques worldwide, which have been used by reliability experts infailure analysis of complex technical systems. In risk assessment (RA) of Occupational Health-Safety Systems (OHSS), thesituation is absolutely different, since their application is not quite expanded and has not been extensively incorporated in themain risk assessment methodologies of OHSSs, despite their significance. In this article, we review and classify FT/E...
Autori: Panagiotis Marhavilas
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26483

AbstractDesigning for flood risk is an important reference for hydroelectric project planning and design. In this paper, advancedchecking-point method (JC method), which is usually used to calculate structure reliability is introduced and used to analyze thedownstream design for flood risk, considering upper reservoirs’ influence; besides, the design for flood hydrograph is deducedfrom the typical flood hydrograph. So, JC method not only can consider the influence of upper reservoirs, but also c...
Autori: Lingzhi Huang
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26485

AbstractFault-Trees (FT) and Event-Trees (ET) are useful analytic tools for the assessment of reliability and safety of complex technicalsystems, and occupational health-safety systems (OHSS), as well. In this work we broaden and expand our previous studyregarding the features of FT/ET methods. To clarify this further, in the present article we statistically analyzed the results of aliterature survey, concentrated on FT/ET techniques applied in risk assessment (RA) of OHSSs, in order to (i) depi...
Autori: Panagiotis Marhavilas
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26518

Abstract Air pollution is an increasing critical issue and the focus of innumerable studies and monitoring activities. In addition to automatic monitoring systems typically used to measure fine dust, ozone, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide, the use of bioaccumulation monitors can also be exploited, especially when monitoring large areas. The advantage of biomarkers is the very low costs involved compared to traditional monitoring systems. Bio-indicator techniques do not measure directly air q...
Autori: Vincenzo Torretta
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26892

This paper highlights the benefits of using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for a Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). A basic forest unit was studied for which a GIS project was performed. For this purpose cadastral base plans, scale 1:5,000 were scanned and vectorized and, in addition, 2704 locations were determined on the fields using the GPS equipment, to make sure that the areas of the compartments and subcompartments are correct. Dendrometric characteristics of the trees (i.e. d...
Autori: Cornel Cristian Tereşneu
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26970

A mine ventilation system provides a fresh air flow to the underground workings in a coal mine. Such sufficient air volume can dilute and remove noxious gases (typically NOx, SO2, CH4, CO2 and CO) and maintain a suitable working environment for coal miners. On the other hand, a poor ventilation system often leads to serious consequences such as mine gas explosions, production loss or higher operational costs. Hence, the functions of mine ventilation system are very important for an undergroun...
Autori: Jianwei Cheng
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27008

The application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) emerged as an interesting topic during the last decade. Many studies have been devoted to the complexity of phenomena imposed by AOPs, and a lot of effort was made to justify the application of AOPs. However, the reliability of AOPs has not been an issue of any extensive work. In this work, failure analysis and comparative reliability study were performed for the chosen AOP system, i.e. a laboratory scale photo- and sonoreactor, during the p...
Autori: Ivana Grčić
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27220

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is both a technical and administrative procedure with (mandatory) extensive application throughout Europe, holding a primary role in sustainable territorial development. Objectives of the SEA process are to: provide a high level of protection for the environment, and promote sustainability of development by contributing to the integration of appropriate environmental considerations in the adoption and implementation of specific plans and programs. In ...
Autori: Vincenzo Torretta
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27231

For efficient management of the losses of drinking water distribution networks, it is essential to have a precise knowledge of the system and its infrastructures. In this context, our study focused on describing two drinking water distribution networks, from two different countries: Rabat and Sale, Morocco and Timisoara, Romania, for water losses over a period of four and five years, respectively. The work consists of calculating some performance indicators to establish thematic maps using Geogr...
Autori: Ziane Imane
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28113

The objective of the present work was to introduce a novel adsorbent with high adsorption potential toward methylene blue by decorating montmorillonite clay (MMT clay) with Zn(OH)2–nanoparticles (Zn(OH)2–NPs). The adsorbent was characterized structurally by FE-SEM and FTIR techniques. Central composite design–response surface methodology was applied to optimize experimental variables including adsorbent dosage, pH, initial MB concentration, NaCl concentration, and sonication ti...
Autori: Adel Valipour
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28173

The efficiency of drainage installed in clay soils using ditch backfill of soil mixed with lime is presented in this paper. The drainage ditch backfill was mixed with lime where 0.6% of soil matter consists of active CaO. The paper proposes a methodology that determines an optimal amount of lime. The experimental site was set in Kalnujai, Raseiniai district, Lithuania. The measurement of filtration in drainage trench, the arable layer and the soil between drains was performed using a double r...
Autori: Mindaugas KlimaĹĄauskas
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28177

Architects and engineers play an important role in the choice of innovative and environmentally sustainable materials and techniques. To define these materials and techniques, they mobilize competencies acquired throughout their lives. To learn the profile of the environmentally innovative architect and engineer in Brazil, we created a self-assessment instrument that allows us to identify essential characteristics in practice, namely, which competencies are mobilized when they choose an environ...
Autori: Elaine Resende
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28223

Environmental laboratories could use a quality management system (QMS) to organize their management activities in order to promote the standardization and reliability of the results generated. This research aimed to construct and apply a diagnostic model to identify the implementation of the best quality management practices based on the ISO 17025 standard in an environmental laboratory at the State University of Maringá, Brazil. The implementation of management practices was conducted o...
Autori: Bruna Maria GerĂ´nimo
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28228

MABR (Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor) consists in an attached-growth process in which a gas permeable membrane is used as a biofilm carrier, and bubble-less oxygen transfer allows for a counter-diffusional mechanism where the electron donor (NH4+, biodegradable organics) and electron acceptor (O2) reach the biofilm from opposing sides. The paper reports results form the largest MABR installation in the world, demonstrating the beneficial impact of the technology in terms of improved process r...
Autori: Giuseppe Guglielmi
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28299