Search

This paper investigates the impact of implementing single and multi-optimisation solutions on the biological treatment process in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The research is based on a case study of the water resource recovery facility (WRRF) in Swarzewo, Northern Poland. The paper introduces the adaptive extremum seeking control (ESC) method for dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration control and places it in a layered control structure. Further, it presents the introduction of an optimisation layer for the structure and parameters of the SBR cycle, through the synthesis of stochastic methods: single-objective optimisation (SOO) using a genetic algorithm (GA) and multi-objective optimisation (MOO) using the NSGA-II algorithm. The results were compared to a classical approach with fixed cycle parameters. The paper shows the advantages of optimising cycle parameters, including the number of phases as well as the DO value, on the process flow. These control structures underwent simulation tests in the MATLAB environment with the Simba package. The biochemical processes occurring in the reactor are based on the Activated Sludge Model No. 2d (ASM2d). The optimising control system demonstrates tangible improvements in operational efficiency and significant reductions in electrical energy consumption, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. • Wastewater treatment is one of the key concerns in ecology and environmental engineering. • Hierarchical control system has been used to the WWTP. • Optimisation of biological processes reduces WWTP operating costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced an interest in the relationship between air pollution and respiratory viral infections, indicating that their burden can be increased under poor air quality. This paper reviews the pathways through which air pollutants can enhance susceptibility to such infections and aggravate their clinical course and outcome. It also summarizes the research exploring the links between various viral infections and exposure to solid and gaseous pollution in Poland, a region characterized by poor air quality, especially during a heating season. The majority of studies focused on concentrations of particulate matter (PM; 86.7%); the other pollutants, i.e., BaP, benzene, CO, NO x , O 3 , and SO 2, were studied less often and sometimes only in the context of a particular infection type. Most research concerned COVID-19, showing that elevated levels of PM and NO 2 correlated with higher morbidity and mortality, while increased PM 2.5 and benzo[a]pyrene levels were related to worse clinical course and outcome in hospitalized, regardless of age and dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant. PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels were also associated with the incidence of influenza-like illness and, along with NO 2 concentrations, with a higher rate of children's hospitalizations due to lower respiratory tract RSV infections. Higher levels of air pollutants also increased hospitalization due to bronchitis (PM, NO x , and O 3) and emergency department admission due to viral croup (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , NO x , CO, and benzene). Although the conducted studies imply only correlations and have other limitations, as discussed in the present paper, it appears that improving air quality through reducing combustion processes in energy production in Poland should be perceived as a part of multilayered protection measures against respiratory viral infections, decreasing the healthcare costs of COVID-19, lower tract RSV infections, influenza, and other respiratory viral diseases prevalent between autumn and early spring, in addition to other health and climate benefits. [Display omitted] • Polluted air may increase the severity of respiratory viral infections. • Poland is a PM and BaP pollution hot spot in Europe. • Air pollution is associated with a higher burden of respiratory viral infections. • Improving the air quality should be a protection measure against infections. • Further studies are encouraged to explore the relationships with other pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper continues the studies on the role of bacteria in the environment of summer truffle (Tuber aestivum), focusing on ascomata at three sites in the Nida Basin (southern Poland). Bacterial taxa and the number of OTU sequences identified were determined based on analysis of peridium and gleba collected in 2017 and 2018. The aim of the presented work is to learn the structure of bacterial communities associated with the ascomata of the summer truffle T. aestivum forming in specific stands in south Poland and fine roots of surrounding trees. Sanger DNA sequencing, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used. NGS sequencing platforms short-read (300 bases) was selected, using a MiSeq Illumina. The Kruskall-Wallis test was used for alpha diversity analysis and the PERMANOVA test for beta diversity. Alpha and beta biodiversity analyzes were performed using various indices (Chao1, Simpson, Shannon, Faith's phylogenetic, observed OTUs, Heip's evenness measure - alpha diversity; UniFrac, Jaccard, Bray–Curtis - beta diversity). The Sanger method identified six bacterial taxa that were dominant in the community: Bacillus (86.7 %), Pseudomonas (51.5 %), Stenotrophomonas (15.5 %), Paenibacillus (7.9 %), Rhizobium (7.3 %), and Chryseobacterium (8.5 %). In contrast, NGS results showed the dominance (at OTUs >10,000) of taxa: Bradyrhizobiaceae, Sphingobacteriaceae, Micrococcaceae, Yersiniaceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Rhizobiaceae, Flavobacteriaceae, and Comamonadaceae. The PERMANOVA test for the Bray-Curtis and Jaccard indices showed dissimilarities between samples from two of the sites with respect to beta diversity. Significant differences were found in the bacterial communities colonizing the ascomata of T. aestivum and in the root communities with T. aestivum ectomycorrhizae the purpose of this study. The results obtained may be helpful in selecting and monitoring sites suitable for the formation of ascomata of T. aestivum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale landforms originated from jökulhlaups or glacial lake-outburst floods (GLOFs), and their small-scale components help in recognising the sedimentary environment of the flood. The GLOF fans that developed along the Pleistocene ice-sheet margin have not been investigated in detail, and north-eastern Poland, with its Megaflood Landform System and Bachanowo and Szeszupka fans, seems ideal for landform and sedimentary studies. This paper provides (1) an important opportunity to recognise the origins of glacier lake-outburst flood outlets and their evolution during two GLOFs and (2) a model of the origin of ice-marginal fans considering changes in sedimentary environment reflecting flood stages. During the first GLOF (GLOF1), the rising stage of meltwater burst triggered the formation of a supraglacial outlet and the development of the Szeszupka outburst fan. During the pulsed peak discharge, subglacial multi-channelised meltwater outburst caused the formation of the Bachanowo Gate, which was finally transformed at the flood waning stage. Such processes were associated with the widening of the floodwater subglacial routeway, when floodwater outlets rapidly spread across the glacier snout. In contrast, GLOF2 was responsible only for the Szeszupka fan erosion and development of outburst terraces. The small-scale bedforms continuum, recognised on the outburst fan surface, is associated with the development of streamlined erosional residuals, scours and their trains during the rising stage and peak discharge, while the waning stage and very end of flood conditions were favourable to the formation of pendant bars, distributive channels with erosional bars and chute bars, regardless of the feeding systems of the outburst fans. The fan deposits were OSL-dated and revealed either, likely, overly old ages or an age of 13.2 ± 0.9 ka. The latter age would imply the 'normal' meltwater outflow having a correlation with the events in the region. Nevertheless, this age might be considered a minimum age of the flood. • Supraglacial outlet developed first due to hydrofracturing during the rising GLOF stage. • The second outlet started to form at the peak discharge due to subglacial multi-channelized drainage. • The dominant processes in outburst fan formation are riverbed scouring and subsequent sediment deposition. • The small-scale bedform continuum evolved on outburst fan surface in relation to GLOF stages. • Outburst fan deposits were OSL-dated and revealed too old ages or an age of 13.2 ± 0.9 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasping how individual choices and exogenous factors shape agents' environmental preferences is essential to comprehending societal trends in pro-environmental behaviour. To this end, this paper proposes the concept of "individual environmental capital". It investigates how an individual's past pro-environmental decisions relate to their future ones, particularly in terms of willingness to pay for improvements in air quality. A randomised information treatment choice experiment was conducted in Poland to gauge individual environmental capital, accounting for physical assets and expressed policy preferences. The investigation found that willingness to pay varied depending on levels of prior investment in environmental assets and declared support for environmental regulations. Results demonstrate that highlighting one's past pro-climate endeavours may fail to differentiate the valuation of environmental protection among those who have already invested in environmental capital. However, it does seem to relate to a higher valuation for those yet to transition their energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing reactions and responses to climate change worldwide, we think climate policies cannot exert their impact sufficiently. Consequently, studying the climate policy paradigms (CPPs) shaped by the dominant environmental ideas and climate objectives is essential. This paper analyses the CPPs in the Visegrad Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) (V4). We investigated the strategic background and implementation related to climate policies by studying the CPPs' different levels. Our research comprises two components: 1. Analysis of national climate strategies and plans (n = 9) to reveal documented policy goals. 2. In-depth interviews (n = 58) to explore the implementation of policy goals and strategic principles. According to our results, the V4's climate strategy documents (CSDs) align with global climate policy efforts and follow EU standards. However, we have found contradictions between the policy goals and their implementation. Our findings show that CSDs are only partial indicators of the CPPs, and all four countries have gaps between ideas and the realization of climate actions. One of the main reasons is that V4 prioritizes national economic interest and energy security. Consequently, the climate policy paradigm takes a back seat. The other inhibiting factors are the lack of social will and the shortcomings of climate governance. [Display omitted] • The V4 has taken significant steps in climate policy over the past decade. • Policy implementation does not fully match climate policy goals. • Obstacles are economic interest, lack of social will, and institutional failures. • Poland's coal reliance drives pronounced policy gaps. • Climate strategies serve as superficial indicators of climate policy paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, the Food-Water-Energy (FWE) Nexus has emerged as a key concept to address the complex relationships and interdependencies between food, water, and energy systems. Cities are an important context for understanding the FWE nexus given their significant footprints and complex socio-ecological systems, but researchers have only recently started to explore an explicit urban perspective on food, water, and energy interrelationships. This paper tackles a particularly significant knowledge gap in this context by introducing an approach to co-design visualisations of the FWE nexus that are understandable and actionable for the various stakeholders involved in urban governance such as citizens, communities, governments, non-governmental and private-sector organisations. Drawing on user-centred design and inspired by the dialogic pedagogy of Paulo Freire, we present and evaluate the co-design process of a FWE nexus visualisation tool for stakeholders engaged with pre-school education in Słupsk, Poland. Our results provide evidence that this co-design process has been effective to developing a new critical consciousness in the participants about how their everyday choices are related to the FWE nexus, enabling them to change perspectives, leading to more sustainable choices. We propose that our co-design process can be used to develop 'grounded visualisations' of the FWE nexus, i.e., visualisations that are grounded in the experiential situations and lived realities of stakeholders, thus offering an effective support for decision-making that could open pathways to sustainability transformations. • A grounded Food-Water-Energy nexus connects to lived experiences. • A novel, user-centred and pedagogical co-design process for FWE nexus visualisations is presented and validated. • Evidence is presented from a study case in Poland of effective decision support about food provision in kindergartens. • The resulting "grounded visualisations" of FWE nexus enabled critical consciousness about the impact of everyday choices. • Grounded FWE visualisations support citizens and governments to seek pathways to sustainability transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Many burial grounds, both contemporary and historical are present in cities. • Cartographic information on the location of historical cemeteries is insufficient. • Necrosols do not appear in WRB and many local soil classifications. • Classifying necrosols only as technogenic soils misleads investors and land users. • A necric qualifier should be introduced in Technosols and Regosols WRB groups. Death is inseparable from the functioning of the biosphere, including the presence of humans on the World. In 2023, the World population is 8.05 billion, with a global death toll of 150,000 per day. A number of burial sites are associated with the operation of cities, which today have a total population of 4.4 billion people. As settlement forms with a history of thousands of years, cities also have a history of burials implementing. So, the cities are the places for the living and the dead. Nowadays, the burial land includes areas of continuous burial use, such as those converted into parks, green spaces and even built-up areas. In all of these areas, soils have developed as a result of specific cemetery use and subsequent changes in soils caused by a change in a land use form. All of the soils of burial areas could be referred to necrosols , with characteristic features such as: soil profile turbation, burial remains, enrichment of deeper soil horizons with phosphorus and carbon, soil deep mixing, and the presence of various artifacts. In this paper we describe the current state of recognition of the cemeteries of the city of Zielona Góra (Poland) and their soils. In doing so, we draw attention to their spatial variation both concerning the location, relating to the structure of the soil profiles, and the main characteristics of soils. We have described examples of soils of former cemeteries, which, in the course of urban development, found themselves within built-up areas. Using modern classifications, they can unfortunately only be described as "technogenic" or "other soils" without indicating the presence of former burials. The soils remain in relation to the form of organization of burials, the different approaches to the use of these specific areas in the past and the modern location within the urban area and its form of use. We found the presence of diverse soil profiles in post-cemetery areas within the city, which cannot be well described using the WRB and local soil classification systems. The only choices for such a soils are: Terric Anthrosols and Urbic, Spolic, Ekranic Technosols or Regosols, with some supplementary qualifiers. According to the newest Soil Classification of Poland they represent: Anthrosols, Rigosols, Turbisols, Ekranosols, and Urbisols. Soil characteristics correlate strongly with present land use in urban areas. Historical cemeteries often do not show characteristics similar to recent burial sites apart from human remains at various depths. It is useful to indicate the presence of ancient burial sites for planning urban development. However, there is still not enough data to propose a new reference soil group. It is therefore recommended to propose a necric qualifier reflecting this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]