Due to the depletion and increasing cost of fossil fuels, the production of cyanobacteria-based hydrogen as eco-friendly and renewable energy for the future seems promising. The paper describes the ...current state of research in the field of hydrogen yield by cyanobacteria. The use of cyanobacteria as potential producers of hydrogen is particularly relevant and beneficial as they form hydrogen from water as a result of solar energy conversion. However, production is a complex biotechnological process, and the main obstacle is the low ability of cyanobacteria to produce hydrogen. The prospects for the development of cyanobacterium-based hydrogen energy can be improved by a complex approach of increasing hydrogen productivity by cyanobacteria cells. First of all, it is the achievement of genetic engineering, the construction of genetic mutants of cyanobacteria with great potential in hydrogen production, followed by a correctly chosen metabolic approach to increase its yield and the development of innovative methods of their cultivation. Thus, the widespread adoption of this technology requires additional R&D with large investments.
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•Critically reviews the cyanobacterial hydrogen production.•Bioprocesses of hydrogen formation by cyanobacterial cells.•Genetic and metabolic engineering approaches towards H2 production from cyanobacteria.•Recent technological progress towards cyanobacteria-based hydrogen production.
This paper presents the rigorous study of mobile robot navigation techniques used so far. The step by step investigations of classical and reactive approaches are made here to understand the ...development of path planning strategies in various environmental conditions and to identify research gap. The classical approaches such as cell decomposition (CD), roadmap approach (RA), artificial potential field (APF); reactive approaches such as genetic algorithm (GA), fuzzy logic (FL), neural network (NN), firefly algorithm (FA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), ant colony optimization (ACO), bacterial foraging optimization (BFO), artificial bee colony (ABC), cuckoo search (CS), shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA) and other miscellaneous algorithms (OMA) are considered for study. The navigation over static and dynamic condition is analyzed (for single and multiple robot systems) and it has been observed that the reactive approaches are more robust and perform well in all terrain when compared to classical approaches. It is also observed that the reactive approaches are used to improve the performance of the classical approaches as a hybrid algorithm. Hence, reactive approaches are more popular and widely used for path planning of mobile robot. The paper concludes with tabular data and charts comparing the frequency of individual navigational strategies which can be used for specific application in robotics.
Watershed Management (WM) as an ever-evolving process should be defined and developed with its approaches. These approaches, which are developed over time, are the main guiding elements of this ...process to achieve watershed health and sustainability. In this regard, Fragmented WM (FWM), Integrated WM (IWM), and Comprehensive WM (CWM) were identified as the main Watershed Management Approaches (WMAs) based on the literature review. Each main approach also has a set of sub-approaches that are necessary to achieve its goals. The interdisciplinary, watershed, research-executive, integrated, participatory, decentralized, nexus and adaptive approaches are types of these sub-approaches, which are called Subsequent Approaches (SAs) in this article. In this article, the concept of A Ladder of Watershed Management is proposed as a stimulus to promote WMAs based on the hierarchy of the main approaches and their SAs. This ladder illustrates a gradual and step-by-step process for promoting WMAs. The most important function of this ladder is to answer three significant questions: (1) at what rung of the ladder do countries stand based on their WMAs?; (2) what is the next rung?; and (3) what should be done to move to the next rung? In general, after identifying the current and future SAs of WM using this ladder, it is necessary to consider the legal and policy infrastructures and approach-based environmental initiatives to operationalize the WMAs.
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•The concept of "A Ladder of Watershed Management" is proposed in this Article.•The Ladder of WM is a stimulus to promote WM approaches.•The Ladder of WM illustrates a step-by-step process to promote WM approaches.•WM as an ever-evolving process should be defined and developed with its approaches.•Comprehensive watershed management is an ever-evolving approach.
The fifth Factor X publication from the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), The Impossibilities of the Circular Economy provides an overview of the limits to the circular economy, ...emphasising the relationship between integrated resource use and more systemic leadership-management approaches. On a European level, the book ties into the recent European Green Deal and aims to empower actors across sectors and EU member countries to transition from existing linear models of value capture and expression to more systemic-circular solutions of value capture and expression. The volume provides a hands-on contribution towards building the knowledge and skill sets of current and future decision-makers who face these complex-systemic crises in their day-to-day business. The book further provides access to best practices from cutting-edge research and development findings, which will empower decision-makers to develop a more sustainable and equitable economy. Providing solutions for a more sustainable economy, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of natural resource use, sustainable business, environmental economics and sustainable development, as well as decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry and civil society.
It is a refreshingly simple thought that migration is the combined result of two factors: the aspiration to migrate and the ability to migrate. Without having to resort to overly structural or ...individualistic explanations, this analytical distinction helps disentangle complex questions around why some people migrate but others do not. Still, aspiration and ability raise their own thorny theoretical and methodological questions. To begin with, what does it mean to have migration aspirations? How can such concepts be objects of empirical research? And is it meaningful to say that individuals possess the ability to migrate if their preference is to stay? The aspiration/ability model was originally proposed in this journal and has since been diversely applied and adapted. In this article, we look back at more than a decade of research to examine a series of theoretical and empirical developments related to the aspiration/ability model and its extensions. We identify two-step approaches as a class of analytical frameworks that share the basic logic of the aspiration/ability model. Covering expansive theoretical, methodological and empirical ground, we seek to lay a foundation for new research on global migration in its diverse forms.
Energy poverty currently affects a significant number of European households, representing a growing problem in the EU. But fuel poverty is not an easily understood phenomenon and requires a ...well-structured definition, which takes into account all relevant issues, and a corresponding measure based on available data to develop the most appropriate policies. The aim of our research is to present the existing approaches to fuel poverty, which are often used in the formulation of policy, presenting the advantages and disadvantages particularly regarding policy interventions. Some of the approaches are broad, and do not propose any quantitative measure of fuel poverty, while others are more precise and result in quantitative indicators. As a main result, we show that two main families of policy tools can be developed: affordability policy - reducing the proportion of income households need to spend on energy - and efficiency policy - retrofitting dwellings to make them more energy efficient.
•Many different approaches to fuel poverty exist.•Existing definitions are useful to define energy policies.•Two main families of policy tools exist: affordability policy and efficiency policy.
Health research concerning Indigenous peoples has been strongly characterised by deficit discourse—a ‘mode of thinking’ that is overly focused on risk behaviours and problems. Strengths‐based ...approaches offer a different perspective by promoting a set of values that recognise the capacities and capabilities of Indigenous peoples. In this article, we seek to understand the conceptual basis of strengths‐based approaches as currently presented in health research. We propose that three main approaches exist: ‘resilience’ approaches concerned with the personal skills of individuals; ‘social–ecological’ approaches, which focus on the individual, community and structural aspects of a person's environment; and ‘sociocultural’ approaches, which view ‘strengths’ as social relations, collective identities and practices. We suggest that neither ‘resilience’ nor ‘social–ecological’ approaches sufficiently problematise deficit discourse because they remain largely informed by Western concepts of individualised rationality and, as a result, rest on logics that support notions of absence and deficit. In contrast, sociocultural approaches tend to view ‘strengths’ not as qualities possessed by individuals, but as the structure and character of social relations, collective practices and identities. As such, they are better able to capture Indigenous ways of knowing and being and provide a stronger basis on which to build meaningful interventions.
Higher Music Performance Education, as taught and learned in universities and conservatoires in Europe, is undergoing transformation. Since the nineteenth century, the master-apprentice pedagogical ...model has dominated, creating a learning environment that emphasises the development of technical skills rather than critical and creative faculties. This book contributes to the renewal of this field by being the first to address the potential of artistic research in developing student-centred approaches and greater student autonomy. This potential is demonstrated in chapters illustrating artistic research projects that are embedded within higher music education courses across Europe, with examples ranging from instrumental tuition and ensemble work to the development of professional employability skills and inclusive practices. Bringing together diverse and experienced voices working within Higher Music Education but often also as professional performers, this edited collection pairs critical reflection with artistic insight to present new approaches to curricula for teaching interpretation and performance. It calls for greater collaboration between Higher Education and professional music institutions to create closer bonds with music industries and, thereby, improve students’ career opportunities. Teaching Music Performance in Higher Education will appeal to scholars, performers, teachers, but also students whose interests centre on innovative practices in conservatoires and music departments.
Zearalenone (ZEN), a significant class of mycotoxin which is considered as a xenoestrogen, permits, similar to natural estrogens, it's binding to the receptors of estrogen resulting in various ...reproductive diseases especially, hormonal misbalance. ZEN has toxic effects on human and animal health as a result of its teratogenicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, nephrotoxicity, genotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. To ensure water and environmental resources safety, precise, rapid, sensitive, and reliable analytical and conventional methods can be progressed for the determination of toxins such as ZEN. Different selective nanomaterial-based compounds are used in conjunction with different analytical detection approaches to achieve this goal. The current review demonstrates the state-of-the-art advances of nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensing assays including various sensing, apta-sensing and, immunosensing studies to the highly sensitive determination of various ZEN families. At first, a concise study of the occurrence, structure, toxicity, legislations, and distribution of ZEN in monitoring has been performed. Then, different conventional and clinical techniques and procedures to sensitive and selective sensing techniques have been reviewed and the efficient comparison of them has been thoroughly discussed. This study has also summarized the salient features and the requirements for applying various sensing and biosensing platforms and diverse immobilization techniques in ZEN detection. Finally, we have defined the performance of several electrochemical sensors applying diverse recognition elements couples with nanomaterials fabricated using various recognition elements coupled with nanomaterials (metal NPs, metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs), graphene, and CNT) the issues limiting development, and the forthcoming tasks in successful construction with the applied nanomaterials.
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