Vol. 10, No. 2 (2022): Regular Issue

Wetlands are indispensable ecosystems and play a crucial role in the stability of their periphery ecosystems. However, wetlands need to be managed in a sustainable way to ensure that not only the present but also the future benefits continue to accrue. As a result, this study proposes and validates a participatory pattern of sustainability management for important saline wetlands in Iran at the plain of Masileh in Qom province. The sample of the study was 251 experts in the field, recruited to answer a questionnaire related to participatory management and the related factors. Data analysis in this study was performed through structural equation modeling using LISREL software. The results showed that economic, environmental, and socio-cultural mechanisms have significant and positive effects on participatory management of wetlands. Moreover, beneficiaries related factors such as consultation, motivation, relationships, and rights have significant and positive effects on the social, environmental, and economic mechanisms and consequently on participatory management of the wetlands under study. In conclusion, this study's findings suggest that policymakers and related parties should pay more attention to the participatory model for the conservation and sustainable management of wetlands ecosystems.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the U.S. annually sustains about 1,300 tornadoes. Currently, the Enhanced Fujita scale is used to categorize the severity of a tornado event based on a wind speed estimate. We propose the new Tornado Property Loss scale (TPL-Scale) to classify tornadoes based on associated damage costs. The dependence between the tornado affected area and the associated property losses vary strongly over time and location. The overall tornado damage costs forecasted by a trained long short-term memory network trained on historical data might reach \$8 billion over the next five years although no systematic increase in the number and cost of disasters is observed over time.

Microbial induced calcium precipitation (MICP) is one of the important emerging techniques in ground improvement. This technique is mainly based on Bio mineralization, which is the process of producing minerals (calcium carbonate) by living organisms called microbes. This technique is widely used in various fields such as biotechnology, geo technology, and also in paleo biology. Apart from the above applications, it is also used to remove the heavy metals, radio nucleotide, and atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration. This paper reviews the approaches of various researchers on this technology applied for different types of soil such as clayey, silty soil, sandy soil and analyzed their optimum conditions to achieve their maximum shear strength. As well as, it is also discussing about the various influencing factors of microbial induced calcite precipitation like calcium concentration, dissolved matters of inorganic carbon concentration, pH of bacterial solution, and nucleation sites availability predominantly. As revealed from the literature reviewed the importance of the processing of bacteria at the optimum condition to adopt sustainable soil stabilization and various precipitations of polymorphs forms were effectively discussed. Though application of MICP and efficiency are required more to elevate in this technique for the field scale.

Based on corporate characteristics, this study explored the extent and nature of eco-affecting information reporting practices of publicly listed engineering companies in the context of an emerging economy. Data collected from annual reports of the purposively selected companies in the 'Engineering Sector' of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) applying a self-developed reporting index consisted of 38 reporting items. The study found that the average eco-affecting information disclosed by the sample firms was only 12.81% of the disclosure checklist, and that was descriptive in nature. The highest disclosed issue was environmental concern and policies (25%), while the lowest was environmental performance (3.81%). The most revealing is that 13.33% of the sample companies did not disclose any eco-affecting information in their annual reports. The study found that firms' visibility proxied by their total assets showed a significant positive effect on the extent of eco-affecting information disclosure. Contrarily, business experience proxied by firms' age showed a negative impact on eco-affecting information disclosure. Other explanatory variables, viz., firm category, leverage, profitability, and ownership stake of the state have an insignificant effect on eco-affecting information disclosure. The findings of this paper will help the policymakers and regulators frame environmental policies and regulations -considering the potential impact of different corporate characteristics-related explanatory variables on environmental reporting. The study is unique as the sample has accepted a specific manufacturing industry instead of mixing industry categories. The study considered 'Company Category' as an explanatory variable for the first time. Besides, the study has included two new disclosure items, viz. environmental slogan/ dialogue and rainwater harvesting (RWH), which have been missing in prior literature.

Interbasin Water Transfer (IBWT) is an efficient solution to balance the unequal temporal and spatial distribution of water resources, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this regard, this paper proposes a Simulation-Optimization model for reliability-based optimal sizing, operation, and water allocation of the Water Highway Project (WHP) in Morocco. Several scenarios were tested taking into account the impact of climate change on water resources both in the donor and the recipient basins. The results indicate that the increase in the transfer flow from the donor basin, as well as the increase in the storage capacity of the recipient reservoir, makes it possible to satisfy the water needs and develop the agricultural sector of the receiving region. This work has made it possible to maximize the profits of the WHP by valorizing the surplus water from the donor basin (Sebou) to meet the water needs of the receiving one (Bouregreg).

Anthropogenic load leads to a negative impact on natural ecosystems. The behaviour of chemical elements in the natural environment depends on their quantity, as well as the intensity of the impact. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to analyse biogenic and toxic elements in mountain tundra soils of the Teletskoye Lake basin (Altai Mountains). The study identified the most characteristic properties of mountain tundra soils: a strong degraded profile, the presence of icy permafrost, a significant accumulation of low-mineralised, high-ash organic matter of a fulvate nature in organogenic horizons, the absence of signs of podzolisation and gleying, a sub-acidic and acidic reaction of the environment, a relatively high absorption capacity. A negative correlation is found to be moderate between the reaction of the medium and the gross content of manganese, iron, zinc, and strong for copper. A positive moderate dependence with the humus content was found only for the total content of manganese and zinc, a positive strong one with the content of fine particles for the total content of iron and zinc. The average contents of biogenic and toxic elements in mountain tundra soils are within the bulk earth values and do not exceed the standardised indicators.

Manufacturing systems have embedded the quality control of parts in process, which requires the tracking of components. The development of equipment for marking systems has enhanced the identification of parts in production lines, which increases data reliability. This paper aims to present a laser engraving system implementation in the machining process, in replacing the self-adhesive label for parts identification. The new system consists of the laser engraving machine, database and a programmable logic controller. The case study shows the technical analysis and the economic, environmental and social assessment. The results with fiber laser on the cast iron surface were high contrasts, permanent and speed marking. The investment was US\$64,500.00 and the payback was within thirteen months. The decrease of the risk priority score from 26 to 7 indicated better ergonomic condition. The environmental impact was reduced by the elimination of chemical products.