scholarly journals Efficiency of Flood Control Measures in a Sewer System Located in the Mediterranean Basin

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín Hermoso ◽  
María García-Ruiz ◽  
Francisco Osorio

Pollution induced by surface runoff in urban areas constitutes a significant problem. The adoption of control measures aimed at improving the quality of recipient water bodies is a fundamental issue in the management of Mediterranean Basin sewer systems. Previous research in Mediterranean areas using small virtual basins has shown that rainfall regimes have a limited impact on the pollutant load and discharge flowing into a receiving body. The aim of our research was to identify a sizing methodology for stormwater tanks located in the Mediterranean Basin. To achieve this, a numerical model of a sewer system, located in the Southern Iberian Peninsula, was developed. Different patterns related to peak periods of rainfall were considered. Furthermore, efficiency indices were used to evaluate and compare the effects of having a stormwater tank in the system. In our study (which considered a real area), significantly varied values were obtained for the pollution load removal rate (η) and the receiver overflow rate (θ). We nevertheless observed that, in our catchment, at a specific volume of V = 60 m3/ha, η and θ reached constant values without experiencing any significant improvement (η = 0.673 and θ = 0.133). Based on our model, this volume was proposed for the stormwater tank. The ATV (German Association for Water Pollution Control) A 128 standard was applied in order to validate the results, and the specific volume obtained (V = 60 m3/ha) matched with the one proposed. Thus, our proposed methodology is simple and different, and it is very easy to apply by obtaining the values of the efficiency indices η and θ through the development of a Storm Water Management Model (SWMM).

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Kundlacz ◽  
Grégory Caignard ◽  
Corinne Sailleau ◽  
Cyril Viarouge ◽  
Lydie Postic ◽  
...  

Bluetongue (BT) is a non-contagious animal disease transmitted by midges of the Culicoides genus. The etiological agent is the BT virus (BTV) that induces a variety of clinical signs in wild or domestic ruminants. BT is included in the notifiable diseases list of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) due to its health impact on domestic ruminants. A total of 27 BTV serotypes have been described and additional serotypes have recently been identified. Since the 2000s, the distribution of BTV has changed in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin, with continuous BTV incursions involving various BTV serotypes and strains. These BTV strains, depending on their origin, have emerged and spread through various routes in the Mediterranean Basin and/or in Europe. Consequently, control measures have been put in place in France to eradicate the virus or circumscribe its spread. These measures mainly consist of assessing virus movements and the vaccination of domestic ruminants. Many vaccination campaigns were first carried out in Europe using attenuated vaccines and, in a second period, using exclusively inactivated vaccines. This review focuses on the history of the various BTV strain incursions in France since the 2000s, describing strain characteristics, their origins, and the different routes of spread in Europe and/or in the Mediterranean Basin. The control measures implemented to address this disease are also discussed. Finally, we explain the circumstances leading to the change in the BTV status of France from BTV-free in 2000 to an enzootic status since 2018.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Castro ◽  
Carmen Sáez ◽  
Mercedes Molina-Morales

Abstract The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) has been introduced in the last decades to many cities of the Mediterranean basin. For most of this time it has been restricted primarily to urban areas, but it is starting to spread to rural habitats. It is considered a pest for agriculture in its native range, consuming a wide variety of crops such as grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, there is very little information about its potential role as a pest for agriculture in the areas where it is exotic. Here we conducted an experimental survey of the impact of the monk parakeet on corn in SE Spain using camera traps. The monk parakeet was the animal that produced the highest damage, being responsible for 98.6% of the time employed by all animals consuming kernels. The percentage of cobs damaged ranged from 36.8–100% depending on the cultivar, whereas the crop loss (measured as the length of the cob consumed with respect to the total length of the cob) ranged from 17.7–71.1%. The results suggest that the monk parakeet may be a serious pest for agriculture in the Mediterranean basin if their populations continue growing.


Author(s):  
Jorge Castro ◽  
Carmen Sáez ◽  
Mercedes Molina-Morales

AbstractThe monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) has been introduced in the last decades to many cities in many parts of the world. For most of this time it has been restricted primarily to urban areas, but it is starting to spread to rural habitats. In its native range, the monk parakeet is considered a pest for agriculture, consuming a wide variety of crops such as grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, there is very little information about its potential role as a pest for agriculture in the areas where it is exotic. Here we conducted an experimental survey of the impact of the monk parakeet on corn in SE Spain using camera traps. The monk parakeet was the animal that produced the highest damage, being responsible for 98.6% of the time employed by all animals consuming corn. The percentage of cobs damaged ranged from 36.8 to 100% depending on the cultivar, whereas the crop loss (measured as the length of the cob consumed with respect to the total length of the cob) ranged from 17.7 to 71.1%. The results suggest that the monk parakeet may be a serious pest for agriculture in the Mediterranean basin if their populations continue growing.


Author(s):  
Joshua M. White

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the shape and impact of piracy in the eastern half of the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire’s administrative, legal, and diplomatic response. In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, piracy had a tremendous effect on the formation of international law, the conduct of diplomacy, the articulation of Ottoman imperial and Islamic law, and their application in Ottoman courts. Piracy and Law draws on research in archives and libraries in Istanbul, Venice, Crete, London, and Paris to bring the Ottoman state and Ottoman victims into the story for the first time. It explains why piracy exploded after the 1570s and why the Ottoman state was largely unable to marshal an effective military solution even as it responded dynamically in the spheres of law and diplomacy. By focusing on the Ottoman victims, jurists, and officials who had to contend most with the consequences of piracy, Piracy and Law reveals a broader range of piratical practitioners than the Muslim and Catholic corsairs who have typically been the focus of study and considers their consequences for the Ottoman state and those who traveled through Ottoman waters. This book argues that what made the eastern half of the Mediterranean basin the Ottoman Mediterranean, more than sovereignty or naval supremacy—which was ephemeral—was that it was a legal space. The challenge of piracy helped to define its contours.


Author(s):  
Matthew D. C. Larsen

The concept of textual unfinishedness played a role in a wide variety of cultures and contexts across the Mediterranean basin in antiquity and late antiquity. Chapter 2 documents examples of Greek, Roman, and Jewish writers reflecting explicitly in their own words about unfinished texts. Many writers claimed to have written unfinished texts on purpose for specific cultural reasons, while others claimed to have written texts that slipped out of their hands somehow with their permission.


Author(s):  
Madadh Richey

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of a long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, then some brief attention is given to likely—Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible (Iberian and Berber) descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from paleographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.


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