scholarly journals Capturing Bio-Sensing Solutions: Biomonapp’s Story about the Seasons of Change across a Global Sustainable Landscape - Monitoring for Sustainable Bioremediation in Rural & Urban Farms, Soil, Agronomy, & Aquaculture

10.28945/4052 ◽  
2018 ◽  

Aim/Purpose: This paper addressed the topics of sustainable agronomy, aquaculture, hydroponics and soil monitoring methods that show how to move towards a repairing mode and bioremediation in many locations across the globe. Background: Sixty percent of the world’s major terrestrial ecosystems are being degraded; the human ecological footprint is spreading across the globe. The major human impact on terrestrial ecosystems in the form of depletion of ground water, over grazing of livestock, clearing for agriculture, timber and urban development, soil damage from off road vehicles, hydroelectric dams and reservoirs, and air pollution from urban areas and power plants. The cost to bio remediate is in the trillions. Methodology: AG biotech methodologies and applications Contribution: The paper bridges such gaps and informs about brave entrepreneurs and university and community individuals with innovative ideas and emerging technologies that gain the momentum for funding and monitoring nutrient uptake and toxic removal of harmful chemicals from water, soil, plants and fish for restoration to take place. Such techniques begin to conquer the giant by restoring the wealth to our soils and water, rural and urban farmlands and forests that retain and capture natural capital and ensure that nutrition and value added resources minerals are not lost. Findings: Biomonapp can detect and make recommendations for repairing & making sustainable solutions, many entrepreneurs & academics have pioneered ways to find SUS solutions Recommendations for Practitioners: Read from the articles and books listed in the references of this paper to understand the need for bioremediation. Use Biomonapp to diagnose water, soil & fish problems & find solutions. Attend conferences & seminars about SUS responsibility & phytoremediation Recommendation for Researchers: To investigate the phytoremediation and bioremediation techniques. Applications for Biomonapp for plants, water, soil, & animals to rejuvenate and repair water, soil and urban & rural communities Impact on Society: These ideas give the power back to local people who can learn to enhance their lives not only by foods but the sustainable green jobs that are being created to make sure urban and rural areas truly are sustainable. Future Research: The results of monitoring with biosensors & bio monitoring methods with regards to sustainable bioremediation, renovating, continued SUS responsibility training, continued evidence of repair and protecting natural capital & ecosystem services

Author(s):  
Remus Runcan

According to Romania’s National Rural Development Programme, the socio-economic situation of the rural environment has a large number of weaknesses – among which low access to financial resources for small entrepreneurs and new business initiatives in rural areas and poorly developed entrepreneurial culture, characterized by a lack of basic managerial knowledge – but also a large number of opportunities – among which access of the rural population to lifelong learning and entrepreneurial skills development programmes and entrepreneurs’ access to financial instruments. The population in rural areas depends mainly on agricultural activities which give them subsistence living conditions. The gap between rural and urban areas is due to low income levels and employment rates, hence the need to obtain additional income for the population employed in subsistence and semi-subsistence farming, especially in the context of the depopulation trend. At the same time, the need to stimulate entrepreneurship in rural areas is high and is at a resonance with the need to increase the potential of rural communities from the perspective of landscape, culture, traditional activities and local resources. A solution could be to turn vegetal and / or animal farms into social farms – farms on which people with disabilities (but also adolescents and young people with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, and alexithymia issues) might find a “foster” family, bed and meals in a natural, healthy environment, and share the farm’s activities with the farmer and the farmer’s family: “committing to a regular day / days and times for a mutually agreed period involves complying with any required health and safety practices (including use of protective clothing and equipment), engaging socially with the farm family members and other people working on and around the farm, and taking on tasks which would include working on the land, taking care of animals, or helping out with maintenance and other physical work”


Author(s):  
Jianhong Fan ◽  
You Mo ◽  
Yunnan Cai ◽  
Yabo Zhao ◽  
Dongchen Su

Resilience of rural communities is becoming increasingly important to contemporary society. In this study we used a quantitative method to measure the resilience regulating ability of rural communities close to urban areas—in Licheng Subdistrict, Guangzhou City, China. The main results are as follows: (1) Rural systems close to urban areas display superior adapting and learning abilities and have a stronger overall resilience strength, the spatial distribution of which is characterized by dispersion in whole and aggregation in part; (2) the resilience of most rural economic subsystems can reach moderate or higher levels with apparent spatial agglomeration, whilst the ecological subsystem resilience and social resilience are generally weaker; the spatial distribution of the former shows a greater regional difference while the latter is in a layered layout; (3) some strategies such as rebuilding a stable ecological pattern, making use of urban resources and cultivating rural subjectivity are proposed on this basis, in order to promote the sustainable development of rural areas and realize rural revitalization. This work also gives suggestion for the creation of appropriate and effective resilience standards specifically targeted for rural community-aiming to achieve the delivery of local sustainability goals.


Author(s):  
Tuuli-Marja Kleiner

Does civic participation lead to a large social network? This study claims that high levels of civic participation may obstruct individual social embeddedness. Using survey data from the German Survey on Volunteering (Deutscher Freiwilligensurvey; 1999–2009), this study conducts macro- as well as multi-level regressions to examine the link between civic participation and social embeddedness. Findings reveal that civic participation on the sub-national regional level is not generally associated with social embeddedness, but it affects the participants’ and non-participants’ possibilities for friendships differently. This holds especially true in urban areas, but the effect cannot be found in rural areas. The analysis has implications for further research to enhance the social embeddedness of the excluded.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Irina Bancescu

Rural areas in Romania are underdeveloped, with the main economic activity being agriculture. Urban-rural income gap and poverty levels are indicative of an underdeveloped rural area. Urban-rural absolute income gap for average monthly income increased from 352 RON in 2007 to 663 RON in 2017. Moreover, the work poverty rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Economic rural development can be achieved by improvements of the labour market and introduction of new value-added products. Agricultural and non-agricultural activities are dependent on each other for a successful rural development leading to poverty alleviation. An industry that combines the two types of economic activities is agriculture biomaterial industry. In this paper, the authos investigates the factors influencing rural poverty and analyses the current stage of the bioplastics market in Romania and its economic implications. Bioplastics industry can reduce urban-rural income gaps and poverty in rural areas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-222
Author(s):  
Patrick Hirsch

Summary Home health care (HHC) services are faced with a rising demand in Austria. This is due to an increased life expectancy, changing family structures, and the trend to grow old at home. The percentage of their working time that is spent by the HHC staff for travelling from one client to the next one reaches 30% and even more in some rural areas. Changing the assignment of HHC staff to clients and the sequence of visits can lead to major reductions in the travel distances, and therefore, to more sustainable solutions. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview on the logistical planning of HHC services in Austria. In order to meet the future requirements, it is important to analyze different mobility concepts for the HHC staff and to provide tailored solution approaches for routing and scheduling. The reader learns about the current HHC situation in Austria, the logistical requirements for planning these services, possible mobility concepts for the HHC staff, and potential threats for HHC operations. The developed solution methods are presented in brief and the main findings are highlighted and discussed. The paper concludes with an outlook on potential future research paths in HHC routing and scheduling.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branko Kordić ◽  
Matija Vukovski ◽  
Marko Budić ◽  
Marko Špelić ◽  
Josip Barbača ◽  
...  

<p>The earthquake with magnitude ML=6.2 that occurred on 29th December 2020 has caused significant material damage to objects and infrastructure in the towns of Petrinja, Sisak,Glina and the surrounding area. According to the satellite interferometry data, the coseismic and postseismic deformation area covers around 500 square kilometers. The existing geodetic benchmarks have been set in the affected towns, and their coordinates have been determined based on previous GPS campaigns. The GPS network was set up and adjusted at the State Geodetic Administration's request for geodetic monitoring of infrastructure and cadastral projects. These points are not primarily intended for high accuracy measurements at the level of a few millimeters, so their accuracy and the absolute shift concerning geodynamic processes in the region should be taken into account. Nevertheless, the data obtained by their observation after the earthquake can provide valuable information about the horizontal and vertical displacements with a certain level of confidence. The field survey has detected disappearance of a large number of benchmarks and some valuable information has been lost. Still, 58 points were found and observed and it has been concluded that 52 points are reliable and can be used for future research. Because the network of benchmarks is not developed in rural areas, there is a gap in the distribution of benchmarks in affected area. Therefore, the additional data was collected using the benchmarks established for the engineering and cadastral projects and studies. From a total of 67 points that have been found and observed, 42 points will be used. Along with the data collected in urban areas, there will be a total of 94 benchmarks. The accuracy of the geodetic benchmark measurements is at the centimeter level, while the values of deformation are at the level of a few decimeters. Therefore, the obtained data can be used to better assess the displacement recorded during the 29 December 2020 event. In the future, field research will focus on finding additional benchmarks to reach a better spatial distribution.</p>


Author(s):  
Julián Briz ◽  
José María Duran ◽  
Isabel Felipe ◽  
Teresa Briz

Agriculture is facing new challenges in rural and urban areas, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) may play a significant role. In this chapter, there is a background description of the ICT sector in the interface of urban and rural communities within the framework of agriculture. It describes some case analyses focused in agronomy and social sciences. In agronomy, the focuses are environment, food production, and pollution. In socioeconomics, there is a brief identification of ICT applications such as the collaboration between the university and firms. Considering the heterogeneousness of the analysis, the future research directions include different methods of studies for ICT programs (house of quality, structural organization, and others).


2012 ◽  
pp. 769-785
Author(s):  
K. P. Joo

The rural communities in South Korea have faced serious challenges as the country has gradually opened the agricultural market and extended the conclusion of Free Trade Agreement with more and more countries. Moreover, due to the national socio-economic and political structures, South Korea has been undergoing the technological imbalance between rural and urban areas. In order to cope with these vital social challenges, the South Korean government has exerted considerable investment and effort in establishing ICT knowledge and skills as well as infrastructure in rural areas. Thus, conceptualizing ICT in the context of adult education, this chapter addresses three ICT-supported adult education programs oriented toward developing ICT skills and competencies of people in agricultural areas of South Korea. The South Korean cases of agricultural ICT education represent the vast and concentrated national efforts in integrating ICT across rural areas in this fast changing global situation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Studnek ◽  
Antonio R. Fernandez

AbstractIntroduction: This study intended to describe the types of organizations and communities in which Nationally Registered First Responders (NRFR) perform their duties. Also, it aimed to estimate the number of NRFR who received disaster preparedness training. It was hypothesized that NRFR participation in disaster preparedness training was related to the types of organizations and communities in which they performed their duties.Methods: The NRFR re-registering in 2006 were asked to report the organization type and community size in which they work. They also were asked to report the amount and content of preparedness training received during the last 24 months. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was utilized to describe the relationship between NRFR organizational characteristics and the receipt of disaster preparedness training.Results: The analysis included 872 (59%) individuals who completed the survey and reported working for one or more emergency medical services (EMS) organizations. The majority of NRFR performed work in rural areas (75%) and more NRFR reported working for fire departments (61%) than for any other organization type. In all categories of service type, participants who reported working in urban areas had higher odds of receiving disaster preparedness training than those working in rural areas. Additionally, regardless of community size, individuals working in fire departments were more likely to receive disaster preparedness training.Conclusions: This study indicated that the majority of NRFR perform EMS duties for fire departments and work in rural communities. In this sample of NRFR, more than one-quarter did not receive disaster preparedness training within a 24-month period. Finally, a statistical model was constructed that indicated a relationship between service type, community size, and the participation in disaster preparedness training.


2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud Lapeyre

Taking tourism in Namibian rural areas as an empirical case study, this paper analyses the main factors that explain the economic outcome in a negotiation process in which local communities and private operators bargain over the distribution of income generated through a partnership lodge. While much research has focused on the required preconditions (especially property rights) and efficiency effects of tourism partnerships, a Nash bargaining model allows us to assess the distributive effects of such contracts. In particular, variables such as insecure community land tenure, and the resulting reduced value of land, the remoteness of lodges and the community's impatience and attitude towards risk could explain why rural communities have not so far captured the lion's share from tourism activities in communal lands. Finally, the paper shows that future research will be needed to complete the model in order to provide an account of the contractual problems that limit the efficiency of tourism partnerships in rural areas – transaction costs and underinvestment.


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